Using up Stash

I always feel a sense of accomplishment mixed with a little sadness when I make a quilt that uses up some of my stash.  I'm happy to reduce the amount of fabric lining my shelves.  That's a good thing.  Really.  At the same time, when I finish off a piece of fabric, I always get this niggling little thought of 'what if I need that exact fabric in the future?'

I have to continually fight this feeling when I make a quilt from stash, because truly, there will always be something similar or the same on the market in the future.  I have to get over that contrary need to hoard my stash.

In this effort, I have finally made a stash quilt that didn't leave me feeling a little sad.  Maybe because it isn't made from colors I tend to feel territorial about.  Made mostly from beiges, creams, yellows and peaches, it definitely came from a portion of my stash I don't feel proprietary with.

This is the quilt I made from stash.  Even the bright orange pumpkins which are bamboo felt rather than cotton (used because I am allergic to wool - though I would have preferred a more subtle color of wool for those pumpkins) were leftovers from another quilt.  The only piece I bought for the quilt was the outer border (the beige leaf fabric).  I couldn't find anything in my stash that worked for that final element of the quilt, and even Stashbusters allows border and backgrounds to be purchased, asking us only to use the rest of the fabrics from our stash.  So, that said, all the background as well as quilt elements were made from stash on this one.

I was actually a little surprised I found so many beiges, creams and yellows in my stash that all blended and worked together so well. 

The quilting was done by Stovers, who did an excellent job highlighting the Autumn theme of the quilt.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with it.  I'd like to hang it in the fall, but I don't have a large enough wall.

I am working on two block-of-the-month projects, one by mail, one at my LQS.  Time to plan another quilt I can make from my stash.

Here's a couple of the latest BOM projects as works in progress:

This is the apple basket block from 'Autumn Joy'  

and the bunny block from Woodland Creatures.

I don't have to worry about using stash or not on any of these, as the fabrics are provided with the patterns each month.  Just have to get them done.

However, right now it's too hot to think much about quilting.  100+ degrees is definitely NOT quilting weather.  And the humidity is killer, making it seem much hotter than it is, even.  Hope it's cooler wherever you are.

Happy quilting, y'all, and use that stash!!!  It's uplifting!