If you are in the U.S., Happy Thanksgiving week!! I am sure everyone is going to be busy with holiday prep, so there may not be much to share on our To-Do lists this week. As for my list from last week, I do have a story to tell!
Since I had to wait for my glitter vinyl to arrive for finishing the Hippo Hobo bag, I decided to pull the fabrics for a bargello quilt I want to make my son, Josh, for Christmas. I chose Surf Song from Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts by Eileen Wright. Josh loves the ocean and it just seemed perfect. I haven’t made a bargello quilt before, but I knew I had a bunch of blues and greens in my Kona Cotton stash and I was excited at the possibility of making this for him for Christmas. But. BUT. I didn’t have quite enough fabrics. Then, the fabrics I did have weren’t wide enough because I purchased 1/2 yard pieces to grow my stash and 5/8’s is required for the pattern. Which meant I had to buy more fabrics. And that’s when the lightbulb moment happened.
Why am I buying and stashing all these fabrics for future projects that, when the time comes to make the new project, I end up having to buy more fabrics for? I have all of this beautiful fabric sitting on my shelves and I’m not making anything with them. My taste in fabrics have changed from when I first started quilting, so there are fabrics I don’t even like any more sitting in my stash. Some fabrics I bought just because it was on sale. Or I bought it because I saw it in a picture and it looked so pretty I wanted it right at that moment. People, this is RIDICULOUSNESS! A destash was in order, and right away. With this train of thought, the course of my entire week changed. I ordered my fabrics for the bargello quilt, and then began pulling bundles and bundles of fabric from my shelves to sell.
If you follow me on Instagram you probably noticed that picture. I set up a separate destash account on Instagram and got to work. Between Tuesday and Friday of last week I organized fabric into piles, came up with prices, took pictures, and prepared draft Instagram posts. On Saturday the destash began and all 88 pictures were uploaded within 30 minutes. The rest of the weekend was tallying purchases, double checking, triple checking, and quadruple checking them. Then sending out PayPal requests, double checking, triple checking, and quadruple checking those. Next up was printing out shipping labels and Monday was double/triple/quadruple checking everything again as I packaged up purchases for shipping. I made it to the post office 10 minutes before the cutoff for their first shipment of the day to Las Vegas. WOO HOO!
I’ve got to tell you, that was a pretty intense week of work. But I feel such relief at getting rid of excess and having a better plan of buying what I need when I need it, rather than just collecting fabric. Now I have to turn to Thanksgiving preparation which I completely forgot about with my week of destashing! How crazy is that? The Mister stepped up big time and braved the stores today while I was getting packages done, but we have another trip to make to finish up our shopping. After we get that done, my plan for the week is simply to enjoy my family time and to appreciate and be thankful for all of the many blessings in my life. And with that, I would like to thank each of you who reads this blog and links up when you are able. You all encourage and inspire me and I appreciate that you stop by week after week to share your finishes, your works in progress, your successes, and your not-so-successful projects. This is a wonderful community and I am grateful to be a part of it!
This week’s To-Do list:
- Be Thankful
Now it’s your turn! Write up your post and link up using the InLinkz linky below.
Rules:
- Link up to this To-Do Tuesday blog post using the InLinkz linky below. Don’t forget: you can link up Instagram photos! The link up is open all week, and you can link any post for the week even if it’s written on the prior Sunday or Monday. It simply needs to be related to setting, working on, and/or completing your weekly goal(s).
- Try to visit at least one or two other blogs and leave a nice comment.
- Include a link back to my blog. Feel free to grab the blog button from the sidebar to show that you’re participating in To-Do Tuesday.
- You do not have to follow my blog to participate, but if you do decide to follow me… thank you! I appreciate it!
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Stitch ALL The Things 
I think you’re my hero today! Great decision you’ve made. I was standing there wondering the other day what would happen to my stash if I disappeared one day. It’s time to use it up or move it on. I’m with you. Good job.
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I was just feeling so overwhelmed and gluttonous. It’s better off being used by someone else than sitting on my shelves!
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Holy moly, that is a lot of work!!! I am happy you were able to destash and organize. I love the colors for the bargello quilt, they are almost identical to what Todd asked for in a bargello. Cleaning out fabric and destashing what I can is on my holiday weekend to-do list (if I get all my sewing to dos done, that is). I’m excited to see the bag when you’ve finished it!
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I just can’t even imagine the amount of work Christine did this week to pull off her de-stash!
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Me, either! I have a really hard time deciding what to get rid of, but most of my fabric is apparel fabric. I’m not sure if that makes a difference or not.
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It was a lot of work, but it was one of those Do It Now things or it was never going to get done. I know myself way too well to have let that burst of energy for this project pass by! LOL!! I think this quilt is going to look great! I am anxious to get to it, but mostly to see Josh’s face!!
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I totally understand the Do It Now – I’m on that kick now cleaning out my fabric, too!
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First up, your Bargello is going to be gorgeous! I hope you enjoy the process. I have leftovers from the one I made this past year, and am thinking of making a wall hanging. And, Wow! You did it! great organizing and destashing! I had that same moment as you, scratching my head and thinking why it the world did I buy all that fabric! And like you, my taste had changed. I took a different route to destash. I made lots of pillow cases and donated them to a local charity for kids with cancer. And then I vowed to sew from what is remaining in my stash!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
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I was really intimidated by the pattern just looking at the picture and then having my first read-through of the instructions. I spent some time looking at it and realized it wasn’t really difficult, it’s just that the process is so different than what I’m used to. So I can’t wait to get to work on it! I love your destashing idea and I will look at doing that myself with other fabrics I didn’t put up for sale!
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