This is all that remains of my solid white fabric – a smidge over 4 yards. I had 3 full bolts back in the spring. My fabric storage bins are roomier and it’s becoming a challenge to find fabric in my stash for projects requiring more than a 1/2 yard of a single fabric. That’s a good thing.

Since retirement, I’ve been working diligently to reduce my stash. Approximately 1/3 of what I had in June 2022 is gone – donated, used in kid’s classes, shared with my sewing squad or turned into completed blocks, flimsies and quilt backs.

There have been some fabric purchases in recent months; however, I’ve been much more mindful about what I actually buy. It’s usually for a specific project or from a special event such as the northern lights fabrics from our Alaska trip. Lately, I’ve focused on completing projects where all the blocks have been made, but the quilt top still needs to be assembled. After the holidays, I’ll turn my attention to actually getting the pile of flimsies quilted and bound.

One benefit of clearing out and reorganizing my sewing space is that it’s easier to shop my stash for future projects. Coupled with a buy nothing fabric-edition challenge, it didn’t take long to select fabrics for my BOMs that begin in January 2024. While I might be short of white yardage to use for background fabric, I do have several yards of light gray on hand that I can substitute for the white. One project calls for two matching jelly rolls. I have two coordinating bright jelly rolls in my stash that look great against the light gray background fabric. I’ll be using those. The second project lists a lot more fabric than is needed to make a throw size quilt, so I’ve opted to start with a small FQ. bundle (8 FQ total) from my stash. I’ll make a couple of blocks before deciding any other fabrics I might need to add. This quilt will also use light gray as the background fabric.

A few members of my Friday sewing group are participating in a no-buy fabric challenge for January 2024 in another sewing group to which they belong. I thought it would be fun play along. The rules are simple: no spending your own money on fabric or notions for the entire month of January. No getting your quilting pal to buy it for you with a promise to repay her in February, either! Methods allowed to acquire fabric under the buy nothing challenge include: swap, borrow, take from the free table, and/or use gift cards received as a present. Since I already have a line item in my monthly budget specifically for quilting/crafts, no spending in January means more shopping at QuiltCon in late February!