All my paper crafts have been mostly or entirely stash this year! BUT… because JoAnn is likely to be completely dead soon AND my local store is not one of the 500 that closed recently, I have done some stocking up.
10 sheets of black 12x12 cardstock and 20 sheets of white.
2 outdoor foam squares to make new seat cushions for our balcony cafe table (the squirrels shredded the ones we had
foam to make a better cushion for Vivienne’s travel house (crate)
trims for a curtain I already have the fabric and rod for. Still need finials.
I will be going back for fabric for the seat cushions and crate cushion. I’m trying very hard to be strategic about these purchases and not just totally panic buy because “maybe someday.”
Our local store is slated for closure and I’m trying to decide what to stock up on. I’m supposed to be on a no/low buy for craft supplies but those plans were made when I could just run to the store for replacements and I’m trying to wrap my head around a world where I can’t just run out an buy muslin, batting, buttons, etc.
My crafting focus has been changing in the past year or so, but with the prospect of permanently losing the store with the widest variety I’m a little freaked out.
(Yes, we have a local quilt shop but our tastes don’t really match up and they seem to reserve most of their attention for people making large purchases).
Local quilt shops completely turned me off from any desire to fabric shop in person. Other than ignoring me, seeming annoyed when I asked a question, and looking at me like I was poor, I had one refuse to sell me a new in-box Bernina. I literally went to the store to buy the machine but the owner was so awful that I just left. I’m sure there are good local quilt shops but I have never found one I felt comfortable in.
The lady that owns my LQS is friendly enough! I know the colours / things I purchase together sometimes surprise her a bit, but she’s kind. It’s just the other customers… I only go for pickups now, 10 minutes before closing. Pay and leave.
I can’t believe anyone is so awful they’d refuse to sell you a high end sewing machine! They missed out on a huge sale, I hope they regret it but this kind of person usually doesn’t.
It was crazy! They would only let me buy one that was out on the floor so they “knew it worked because if there was a problem with it we wouldn’t know if it came that way or it was something you did”. There is no way I’m paying new machine prices for a used machine, even if it was “just” out on the floor for “a few weeks”. I have no idea if that was actually their insane store policy or it was just me.
There’s a lovely quilt shop over the mountain that I try to visit once or twice a year (when I’m not in stash-down mode). Friendly staff, always full of chatting people, and a great appreciation for scraps and small cuts. I don’t know exactly what makes them different other than having a much more rural community of quilters (it’s in the heart of Mennonite country) as opposed to my local wealthy-retiree quilt ladies. I’m not much of a quilter so I’m neither’s target audience, I just have a lot more fun in the valley.
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AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
168
I live about an hour from Lancaster, PA. There are so many quilt and yarn/weaving shops in the area. Everyone is pretty polite and helpful. We also have a Mennonite Quilt Charity in April where there are tons of vendors and a place where you can buy loads of small cuts, scraps, orphan blocks, etc. I love looking at the quilts but trying to get one at the auction is nearly impossible. One year, a beautiful all white quilt went for $10,000! The lowest bid I heard was for about $275 for a mini wall quilt! It is the largest charity that benefits not just the Mennonite but the community.
I am going with friends this year just for the supplies, to collect vendor cards, and get myself a chocolate milkshake and homemade donut!
I had the exerience of a saleswoman wincing everytime I hit the pedal when testing out a machine, and talking to me as if I ad never stitched an inch. Never went back.
My local Jo-Ann’s is staying open for now, too. Like the rest of you, I’m trying to figure out what I might want to pick up in the event they won’t restock. We’re lucky enough to have a nice fabric store in the area to fall back on that stocks apparel fabrics in addition to quilting cotton, so it won’t be much. Maybe some thread and batting, if they have any left in stock this weekend.
In that spirit, I organized and photographed all my apparel fabrics and patterns today…no desire to go shopping anymore.
3 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -In the year 2025, I am happy to be alive! :us:)
171
This discussion really did make me take a hard look at my inventory. I went through my threads, embroidery threads, etc. I don’t need to go into “panic” mode.
I have pictures of my fabrics in an excel spreadsheet. I can search by color, yardage, type, etc. My tastes have changed and the novelty prints I loved before just don’t appeal to me anymore. Now that I am back in PA with a Creative Reuse store nearby, I can start a box of things I can donate.
I need yellow thread and yellow fabrics…not a fan of yellow at all, but there are certain things you just can’t make without yellow, ie. sun and flowers! That’s all I need right now. Everything else will be from stash.
In progress, necklace assembled from stash. Two chains, three old necklaces plus one beaded lanyard, bail with leaf, made the acorn, made the leaves ages ago from painted paper that was resin coated. I need to rearrange the leaves, maybe add a few beads? Even the jump rings were thrifted.
Does anyone find themselves holding on to supplies they know they don’t like using just because they like to look at them?
I’m making a box of art supplies for my nieces from my stash and I keep putting the tombow markers in and taking them back out. I know I don’t like them and I won’t use them, and I’m sure they would use them but I am having trouble parting with them for some reason.
Not tombows (I didn’t like mine either and passed them on) but I do have cardstock I probably won’t ever use but looks so nice! I’m not really a papercraft person.
I am steadily destashing scraps of fabric - earlier this week at my sewing class I cut a simple spaghetti strap nightdress from a leftover bit of knit fabric (I used one I already have as a pattern). I cut bias tape for the straps tonight.
My life is a bit chaotic right now so I have a dozen projects on the go, way more than normal. But on the upside, almost all of them are from stash! I’ve been really low on energy lately and starting a new project gives a little energy boost.
