Fabric Use, Fabric Purchasing and Spreadsheets- Cheryl’s 2017 edition

At the December Sew Day/Party/Meeting I forgot to share my 2017 spreadsheet at Show and Tell.
I know you all missed it terribly, so here is my summary.

IN YARDS	jan	feb	mar	apr	may	june	july	aug	sept	oct	nov	dec	YEAR IN TOTAL
difference	24.75	-10.75	-5	7.5	-1	-5.25	4	13.75	-2	5.25	1	-29.75	2.5
in	31.5	3	0.25	10.25	11	7.5	13	18	14	17.5	12	12.5	150.5
out	6.75	13.75	5.25	2.75	12	12.75	9	4.25	16	12.25	11	42.25	148

I know Jaye has reported on her use, and Michelle also. Those of you who are reluctant to start tracking,
let me remind you that you can make up your own rules. Foreign travel purchases, for example, may not count.
Or anything bought during the “limbo” week between Christmas and New Years may go on either year depending
on how the math is shaping up (I use this one). Likewise free fabric may not count for you if you are interested
more in the financial "burden" of fabric stashing. Or any purchases made after midnight, or anything pink...
whatever. It's your spreadsheet!

AND REMEMBER, you don’t have to tell anyone. This is not meant to make you feel bad, it’s meant only to
make you aware.

Final tally for 2017: 150.5 yards of fabric purchased/won/given; 148 yards of fabric used/given away.

Final tally for 2016: 121 yards of fabric purchased; 122.6 yards of fabric used.

Net increase of 2.5 yards this year! Not bad. Like last year, I did some panic December sewing of gift bags,
etc to help reduce the gap. And finished 2 baby quilts in the “limbo” week in order to put my limbo
purchases on 2017.

A few things that happened this year to increase my intake:

Participation in destash: one in person when Kelly (previous BAMQG president) moved to Scotland and
what are friends for if not to help out with that?? And another one on instagram where someone was
destashing solid “neutrals” at an excellent price. One of my goals this year was to increase my solid stash,
so in addition to that destash I also joined a Solids of the Month Club whereby 1 yard each of four solids
in a certain colorway were sent to me each month. So these three things added 51 (gulp) yards to my stash.

Thankfully I also finished 4 larger quilts, 8 baby quilts (2 in December!) and 5 charity baby quilt tops.
(I am motivated by a finish, and by the Spreadsheet!)

Next year, I am also planning on using the spreadsheet to Plan out a few things for the year. For example
all of the WIPs from 2017 moved over onto the 2018 spreadsheet and those with a deadline (ie baby quilts
for babies due, graduation quilts, teachers gifts) have a highlight for the month in which I would like to
finish them. This spreadsheet has become a good (and my only way besides Instagram) of tracking what
I have made. So it works for me.

Don't be afraid to try it! It has helped me really focus on fabric I will use, and not just buy because it's on
sale or I am bored (it is notable that the months I was traveling and not sewing are also the months I bought
more fabric this year!). Still working on the hoarding factor if “too good to use” though. Also, I have been
doing more hand-quilting and other hand work. This slows things down (in a good way) but may also need to
slow down the purchasing…

Here’s to a creative 2018! Go out there and buy make something!