I really must stop working retail...

rubsluts'mommy

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I've been cleaning. I have mentioned this in the SS threads because I'm missing a crucial item needed to finish something. So I'm cleaning (and posting, obviously). So I get my craft/sewing closet done (sort of, it still needs a LOT of work, but I can see the floor, well some of it) and am now pulling stuff from the office and finding places for it all in the closet. Hmmm... I think I had better start sewing with some of this fabric.

So I decided to take pictures of my fabric stash (as well as the notions 'drawers'). Holy crudola. I had no idea I had this much. I've been working in a fabric store for over a year now... I was starting to slow down on the fabric purchasing, but then Christmas hit and all the penguin fabrics have been showing up. Not to mention I have a new hobby: fabric bowls. So I'm buying remnants of fabric that would make cool bowls... good God, I need to stop working there. There are boxes of fabric and yarn in the HALLWAY. Yeesh.

*smacks back of hand*

bad girl!

I think I need to take a week or two off from both my jobs and do a serious amount of sewing...

And then get my bee-hind out of retail permanently...

Amanda
Help... I'm drowning in fabric!!
 
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rubsluts'mommy

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Originally Posted by calico2222

Hey, everyone needs a hobby! At least you're not drowning in dust bunnies like I am!
And, I would LOVE to see some pics of your fabric bowls.
One went to Susie with her first SS package... I'm still perfecting my satin stitch... it's a pain on an older machine that I've never been completely comfortable with.

My problem is that I have too MANY hobbies: sewing (basic quilting, costumes and now fabric bowls), jewelry making (bead necklaces), photography, writing, cooking, knitting (using looms), music, and even more that are still budding: fused glass is the one that comes to mind. Some scrapbooking (which i SWORE I'd never do) as well. I have the stuff to make a Kitty Scrapbook, but haven't sat down to do it yet. I've also done silk flower arranging.

Web design also comes to mind...

I don't need another darned hobby. Oh yeah, and reading.

GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

Good thing I'm lousy at painting and drawing... tried them... I'm pretty much at the stick figure level... well maybe a level above... sometimes.

Amanda
 

goonie

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i used to work in a book store (crown books). i have books in every room in the house, the garage, in boxes.... but then you can never have too many books
 

natalie_ca

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Oh God! If I worked in a fabric store I'd have a whole fabric store in my home!
When I go to a fabric store I leave with way more than I intended on buying. It's an addiction!
 

KittenKrazy

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Someone said that you can never have too many books.......I totally agree with that, but then I also have always subscribed to the thought that one can never have too much fabric either!

You work at a job that I would both love and hate......I'd love to work with all that fabric...but I'd hate it 'cuz I'd wind up bringing home more fabric than paycheck!

BTW......Hows about posting some pics of your stash?.........Bet mine is bigger, even though I don't have any pics of it to prove it, but I had my own as a sewer/quilter/crafter....then when my MIL passed away three years ago, I inherited HER stash.....some of which is older than me, methinks!!!
 
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rubsluts'mommy

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Originally Posted by KittenKrazy

Someone said that you can never have too many books.......I totally agree with that, but then I also have always subscribed to the thought that one can never have too much fabric either!

You work at a job that I would both love and hate......I'd love to work with all that fabric...but I'd hate it 'cuz I'd wind up bringing home more fabric than paycheck!

BTW......Hows about posting some pics of your stash?.........Bet mine is bigger, even though I don't have any pics of it to prove it, but I had my own as a sewer/quilter/crafter....then when my MIL passed away three years ago, I inherited HER stash.....some of which is older than me, methinks!!!
Oh, I'm sure your stash is bigger than mine... but I'm in a small two bedroom apt, so it just seems to be taking over.

And i also have a ton of books (roughly 900), CD's (I think I've hit 1000, but they're in those black books, not their cases, easier to store). I swear I must've been a dragon in a former life... I hoard 'pretty things' like it's going out of fashion. I do try to be organized in my madness.

Here goes the pics:

You can see the neck of a mannequin in this one... her name is Cruella (my finger got pinched while bringing her home) and she's been padded and duct-taped for use as a cheap dress form.












two small Bali panels... I'm a penguin freak, and obviously love kitties... don't know what will happen with them yet...




Bali print dragon... he has a purpose. I've been looking for a good Asian dragon to use as a template for my dining table. I want to do a black lacquer paint on the surface and then paint a dragon along it. Also, it extends, so the tail needed to be stretched out a bit, becasue i want to match the insert with a segment of tail... this guy is perfect:



Recent purchases... mostly remnants for bowls, but some flannel PJ fabric as well.




The boxes in the hallway:
 

KittenKrazy

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Ok, so I have to admit that I loooove the organization! Mine is here and there and some even currently at the mini-storage with some of our other stuff (we live in a 16X60 mobile home). You know, those two balis' would work beautifully as the center square of a quilt, with the other squares in matching colors and simple blocks to show off the print!

Somehow, reading this has made me very, very glad that I have the week between Christmas and New Years off......if I can get the house cleaned up today ......... might get some sewing in this coming week!
 

gemlady

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BFF Ramona uses "fabrichoarder" in her email address. She is a member of a costuming guild.

Our garage shop/sewing room is stuffed with fabric and rocks and flower arranging stuff. (Mom's 2nd career choice was floral arranging but had to quit as going in and out of the coolers where the cut flowers were kept was hard on her lungs.)

I have to do some more organizing of my bead and jewelry stuff. (To make room for more, don't ya know.
)
 

carolpetunia

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Oh my gosh -- when I read your list of hobbies, I thought you and I must be related somehow. But when I saw your pictures... hon, you're in even worse trouble than I am!
I used to know a woman who had the same kind of collection in her guest room... her husband called it her "fabric aging room."


But at least you have it all neatly stored. That's remarkable. I started out that way with my beads...

First, I bought some nice wheeled drawer carts and established Mobile Beading Storage Units I, II, III, and IV.

When those overflowed, I bought some shoebox-sized plastic cases and started stacking them in nooks and crannies, wherever they would fit: Portable Beading Storage Modules 1 through 28.

I guess the next step will be a series of lidded bead trays hung in little hammocks from the ceiling... Aerial Beading Storage Devices...

 

gailc

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Another "multi-hobbiest" here!!

Our third bedroom-"my room". I've have to post a pic of the closet as I when to Home Depot and bought all those closet maid metal shelf organzing system. One can fit quite a bit of stuff in a closet that way. Not counting the dresser full of fabrics and ribbon!!

At least I have my own building for my garden stuff (and part of the basement!!)
 

halfpint

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Amanda
Help... I'm drowning in fabric!!

Well yeah you could just make us all something
kill 2 birds with one well a few hundred things less fabric and a cleaned up mess
 
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rubsluts'mommy

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Oh my gosh -- when I read your list of hobbies, I thought you and I must be related somehow. But when I saw your pictures... hon, you're in even worse trouble than I am!
I used to know a woman who had the same kind of collection in her guest room... her husband called it her "fabric aging room."
Yup... I completely understand. Now, the clear plastic bins on the shelves are the first things I started with... but they're busting at the proverbial seams, and I really don't have a better situation. So I bought some of those printed boxes from IKEA (IKEA Junkie here), and have been throwing more in there.
The sad thing is that when I started at the store I was JUST a costumer (in terms of fabric related hobbies), and swore up and down I'd never knit or quilt. HA!

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

But at least you have it all neatly stored. That's remarkable. I started out that way with my beads...

First, I bought some nice wheeled drawer carts and established Mobile Beading Storage Units I, II, III, and IV.

When those overflowed, I bought some shoebox-sized plastic cases and started stacking them in nooks and crannies, wherever they would fit: Portable Beading Storage Modules 1 through 28.

I guess the next step will be a series of lidded bead trays hung in little hammocks from the ceiling... Aerial Beading Storage Devices...

*nodding head vehemently* I kept trying different things with my beads... now they sit in a large-ish wood box from IKEA that's meant to hold DVD's. It's a heavy little box for its size, but it contains MOST of my beading supplies (although my pliers and cutters seem to grow legs and get lost elsewhere in my apt.)

FYI: the clear containers are from Target. I think they ran about 3 bucks a piece for that size.

I tend to be a little OCD about my collections... I want them organized or I know darn well I'll never find anything. I even have one of those Dymo Letra Tag label makers so everything gets labeled. Even my bookcases. Yes, I'm serious. I have my non-fiction separate from my fiction, and each genre of non-fiction is separate. the fiction is out in the living room, the NF is in my office. It's still not all up on the shelves, but only because i changed out to the large Billy bookcases from... you guessed it... IKEA.


Originally Posted by halfpint

Amanda
Help... I'm drowning in fabric!!

Well yeah you could just make us all something
kill 2 birds with one well a few hundred things less fabric and a cleaned up mess
Fabric bowls anyone? I have considered selling them, once i get my satin stitching better...

Just in case anyone was wondering, the fabric store i work at is what I refer to as the Mecca of fabric stores... it's huge.

<<Fabric Depot is the largest, most complete retail fabric store in the west. Our 73,000 square foot store includes fashion, special occasion, quilting, and home decorating fabrics. Our Quilting Department has more than 8000 prints, with over 1000 books and patterns available for inspiration. The Bridal Department has everything needed to create a unique wedding dress, including beautiful appliquÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]s and beaded lace. Special orders are always welcome! The Home Decorating Department carries everything from upholstery supplies to drapery sheers. Our Craft section has a wide assortment of supplies for quilting, doll making, and beadwork. A huge selection of products, and excellent customer service has been our trademark through the years. That is why we are celebrating our fifteenth year of success in 2007.>>
www.fabricdepot.com/ (to hopefully make the Mods happy)

This is me, from July, when i wanted to take some pictures of the places I work to make a DVD for my parents. That is barely half the store, taken from back in patterns.
 
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rubsluts'mommy

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Originally Posted by KittenKrazy

Chick, I only have one word to say about your workplace ....
!!!!
Believe me, I hear ya! It's a fun place too. So much to look at, touch, play with, dream about. I can always tell who is a first-timer in there. They walk in, stand in the same place i stood my first time there, eyes wide as saucers. Usually saying something to the effect of 'holy c***.'

Most of us working there are completely and utterly nuts. Let me explain something to you: I hate retail. I mean, seriously. I've done retail gigs at a variety of shops and if you look at my 'record' of how long I spent at each of those stores, you'd wonder about me. I hate being around non-creatives. Well, I'm surrounded by them daily, but working with them at least. It's hard to deal with sometimes... Usually very closed down and stern (had way too many bosses that way), and frowned upon individuality. I always felt stifled in those jobs. I never would last more than 9 months (and the 9 months was at a big music store). I've been here for one year and three months. I never stay in a retail job that long.

Now reality is setting in and I'm going to a career counselor to help me focus on what career direction i need to head in, as two PT jobs at both less than 10/hour ain't paying the bills and rent. But it is a place I enjoy being in. Standing on my feet all day is getting harder, but I deal. I don't whine too much (Lisa, our scheduling manager is hysterical. I'll mention something and she'll ask me, deadpan, 'are you whining again? I don't allow whining.' I'll stick my tongue out at her and she laughs. she's a smart aleck, as are the majority of my co-workers).

Yes, it's a wonderful place. And if you ever have the chance to come to Portland, you have to shop at our two Retail Meccas: Fabric Depot and Powells Books. The downtown Powells, not their satellite stores... not as big and not as funky. They literally have color coded ROOMS for the different genres of books.

Amanda
 
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