Keeping it Real

I’m changing how I shop for fabrics and crafting supplies. From now on I will not be buying fabric or notions unless unless it’s project specific. No more shopping clearance racks to build up my stash. That stack of acid free comic book boards represent the amount of fabrics I’ve cleared from my “stash”, in case you’re curious it’s 193. That’s a lot of fabric to hang on to and not use and it gave me anxiety .The fabric has been packed up and will be going to a nonprofit organization that will use it. It’s money I spent long ago and I’m not going to get rich by hanging on to it and I won’t be made any poorer by donating it. It’s a wonderful feeling clearing out the fabrics I know I won’t use, it releases me from any lingering anxiety that I’ve had because of it.

Like many of you, the pandemic made me feel lonely and isolated. Quilt shops near me had all gone out of business, that’s when I turned to companies and brands and joined their Facebook groups to feel included. With that I subjected myself to dealing with poor quality patterns riddled with errors, quilting kits put together with inferior quality fabrics and I used brands of thread that was given to me in exchange for the company to use my photos. None of this was friendship. It was nothing more than a means for the various companies to make money and to a certain degree consumer exploitation.

Have you thought about how you are marketed to?

One on-lined based fabric store sends me near daily emails with the topic “stash building”, I’ve unsubscribed to every email that’s like that. It’s one thing to get a weekly email from a local quilt shop telling you the new things they have going on and upcoming classes, it’s another thing receiving daily emails telling you to buy buy buy and not lose out while it’s on sale.

I’m making changes in how I do things in 2024. I made the decision to no longer participate in block of the month or kit of the month subscriptions. I don’t feel the need to be part of a circle of spending money on products I most likely will never use or make. While I will make purchases in the future, they’ll be on a much smaller scale.

Now to getting back to what I really want to do which is to make beautiful things for my home.