Saturday, September 15, 2007

My stash

In my studio I have 3 of these 7 foot tall bookcases with my fabric on them. It doesn't make sense to have a 6' shelving when the ceiling is 8'. However I am not tall so the top shelf always looks messy because I am up on the tips of my toes stretching to put anything back up there that I have pulled down. I have a small design wall to the left of this unit and the other 2 bookcases are at the other end of the room. If a "normal" family lived here this would be a family room off the kitchen. When they built houses in 1953 they weren't grand rooms like they have now for family rooms. This is just a plain 11' x 15' room with 3 nice sized windows. My blacks and whites live in the basement sewing area and are in 2 blanket storage boxes up on end on a shelf. The one on the right contains the best stuff, all of the positive/negative prints and the clearest whites. The one on the left has whatever I was using last thrown in on top of the pile of creamier whites, blacks with gray in them and prints I am not as fond of.
So there is a taste of my stash. Yes, I have a lot of fabric, but my jobs over the years have all been related to fabric, teaching, giving programs, making store samples, and I have had a store discount for most of the years, so it didn't cost me the regular retail price. Sewing has been a great joy in my life since I learned to sew in home ec. in high school and was in 4-H sewing with the help of my best friend's mother.

7 comments:

Colleen said...

Wow! You do have quite a stash. It's so fun to see other people's stash and how you organize it. It makes me feel like I can collect a lot more and it would be fine. (My husband would remind me that this is not a competition of who can get the biggest stash). I know he would be right, but it would be fun to try.

Elsie Montgomery said...

I have to echo Colleen in that it is fun to see your stash, and feel less guilty about mine (about a third the size). No one would criticize the size of a stamp collection, so we shouldn't feel guilty. I think of it the same as I do my books (now that is a stash!) -- they are resources and the riches of the collection gives me richness in my work.

Go, girl!! and thank you!

Joyce said...

Wonderful stash. I really admire your collection of black and whites. They are so useful.

Vicki W said...

Everything is so NEAT! How do you keep it that way? Love all fo the B/W prints.

meggie said...

Wonderful stash!
You deserve it though, because you create such wonderful quilts with it!

Rosalind said...

You are amazingly organised! Do you ever get in a big mess as you pull fabrics out to try them out?

Of course the great sense of colour in your stash is only reflecting the colours in your wonderful quilts!

Thank you for letting us see into your studio. :o)

TB said...

Your shelf has that "come look at and touch the fabrics" appeal. What an inspiring place you've created for yourself!