okay, so it's not 2010 yet...

A month or so ago a friend mentioned in passing that she hadn't bought any new clothes in 2009. This surprised me, because she is always so amazingly well turned out. I began to wonder if I could go without buying new clothes in 2010... but then my best girlfriend reminded me that I'm not exactly a clotheshorse. I have a small pile of the same black v-neck t-shirt, nearly identical black chinos, a cardigan, and that's pretty much my wardrobe. So clothes shopping isn't exactly one of my vices.

A few days ago the same girlfriend and I were IMing and somehow the subject of crafting came up... and that craft supplies are my personal weakness. I love to buy supplies -- there are few things that make me as happy as wandering around a craft store and collecting supplies for projects that I never knew I might want to try. Combine this weakness with my inherited packrat nature, and, well, the result is a basement full of supplies. Mainly well organized supplies, mind you, but supplies. I never met a craft I didn't like, apparently.

I've got a huge stash of quilt fabrics, from fat quarters to multiple yards. It must be said that I've made a number of very nice quilts... but I could make many dozen more from the material in my stash.

I've got another huge stash of fancy silks and velvets from a scarf-making fetish a few years back. Don't get me wrong; I made some beautiful scarves that were well received. I even was able to use some of the velvet another year when I made fantastic antique kimono patchwork scarves. These gifts were also well received. But I stumbled across a surprise box full of velvet yardage today. There are only so many scarves my girlfriends want or need!

Then there's the fabric that I collected in British charity shops -- antique curtain panels that would make amazing skirts; perfect purple and black goth brocades, funky 60s prints that, though I didn't know what to do with them, I knew I wanted them.

Then there's the stash of semi-random fabrics that were bought with particular outfits or clothes in mind... but I never made them. Some of them sit in bags, complete with pattern, thread, and required notions. Good heavens.

That's just the fabric.

There are boxes of skeins of yarn. I haven't knitted in years. But I've got yarn. I've also got literally dozens of stitchery kits -- some purchased over 10 years ago -- and, perhaps even worse, finished stitchery pieces that have never been made up into cushions, wall hangings, what have you. Shoeboxes full of persian wool, tapestry wool, embroidery floss. A box full of antique buttons. Boxes of paints. And of course all the scrapbooking supplies!

So, until the rest of 2010, I will not purchase any more craft supplies. This still seems like a brave statement to type. There are, as always, a few exceptions. IF I finish the main pattern of the Beth Russell "Hare" forest tapestry before I head to Britain for Bec's wedding, then I am allowed to buy the "Fox" tapestry kit. Also, if I need something to finish a project -- thread, a zipper, a pillow form, even potentially something as large as a quilt batting or backing, that's allowed. But everything else must come from the stash downstairs.

Bold. Well, except if you saw the stash...