Cotton Prices

For the last year, everyone seems to have been focused on stash busting.  I thought about jumping on that band wagon, since like everyone else, I have some fabrics in my stash that no longer really appeal to me… and of course fabric just keeps getting more expensive!

But instead, I found myself stash building!  I’ve been buying nothing but blender fabrics, mostly Moda Marbles, some solids, and a few batiks.  Lots of threads on large cones, and a ton of batting.  Does this count as a 401k plan? !! I’m avoiding prints because at some point, they always get dated, or we just get tired of them.  Most of my fabrics will work fine for clothing if need be as well.

Now that they’re talking about cotton prices going up and effecting the cost of just about everything a seamstress or quilter uses, from fabrics, to threads and batting, I am so glad I did!  I only wish I could have bought more!

Which brings me to my question.  With the cost of fabric, thread and batting getting so prohibitive on top of the already high prices of machines and equipment, where do you see the sewing and quilting industry headed?  In my area, quilt shops can’t stay in business because people can’t afford (I assume) the cost of good fabric.  Hobby Lobby and Walmart do a thriving business in their fabric sections.

Will Americans stop sewing?  Or will they continue to buy more and more inferior materials due to cost increases?  What do you see happening?

Of course, the same could be said about food.  I’m shocked every time I go to the grocery store, and always grateful for my well stocked pantry.  Buying in bulk saves us quite a bit.  Will Americans stop eating?  Of course not.  Will they try and raise more of their own food?  Eat more and more junk that’s devoid of nutrition, but filling?

I’d struggle more with food than I would fabric.  I like to eat well!  Speaking of which, yesterday’s chicken breasts turned into quite a tasty meal, which I shared in the Recipe section.  Enjoy!

Something has to give...

Organize, restructure, turn things inside out… I’m always attempting to organize my life better to squeeze more time and more efficiency into a twenty four hour day.  But you can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip, and there just isn’t any more time to be had!

I don’t want to give up any of my sewing time, there isn’t enough of it as it is.  Huh?  Yeah I know, it may seem like that’s all I do, but trust me, it’s the lesser part of my day.

It’s coming up on my favorite time of year, fall and winter… and even spring.  I like to spend more time outdoors, more time cooking, more time just being!

Email takes up a big chunk of my time.  I belong to a number of Yahoo sewing groups, and used to run one of them, which I let go due to time constraints.  Now, I’ve decided to drop the groups.  I’ll remain a member of them, but it’ll just be an occasional thing to visit them online, no more emails.  Blogging I love, and I would like to keep adding more content to my website.  Videos, tutorials, EQ files, recipes…

How do you squeeze more time into your day?

Jim will be home late this afternoon, for a whole week!  Then it’s back down to New Orleans.  They keep delaying the time frame when the group has to be there fulltime, at which point Jim will be taking the RV down to stay in… I think he’s pretty tired of motels at this point.

I diced up a bunch of dried fruit yesterday, dates, figs, apricots, cranberries and cherries, and I’ve had them soaking in brandy overnight.  Today I’ll be making a cake, it’s a light version of a fruitcake.  Not that nasty, candied fruit kind, ugh.  Dried fruit, brandy, orange juice, nuts… good eating!

I’ll bake some bread today as well, and do a bit of cleaning.  I lost a day yesterday as I was sick the entire day with a stomach bug, ugh.  I did get a little bit more of my afghan done, having spent most of the day on the sofa, but it’s slow going as my hands just don’t handle that type of thing well anymore.

I have half of the borders on the scrappy quilt, so it’s nearly done.  I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t care for a multitude of prints in a quilt anymore.  This one is full of fabrics that I love, but I would have liked the quilt better had I chosen just one of the prints, and used solids for the rest.

I’ve been busy stocking up on more blender fabrics, mainly Moda Marbles and Bella Solids, filling in my color gaps.  I don’t know how closely the suppliers fabric costs are tied to the cotton market or how long it takes to trickle down, but fabric is going to go up again, and we all know it’s never coming back down, unlike gas which flucuates.