And They Call It The Stash Game

A 'stash' is defined as a secret store of something. You can also refer to it as a cache, hoard, stockpile, accumulation, collection, or reserve. These terms can be applied to just about anything that you can amass in quantity. Including fabric. Although, as someone who does, in fact, have a rather substantial stash, I prefer to think of it differently. When referring to my personal stash, I like to use the following quote:

'THE STASH is your 'home base, your security, your legacy.'
(Some poor souls think it's a nagging reminder of what you haven't done yet...)
WE, on the other hand, prefer to regard your PRECIOUS STASH as your Potential for Creativity!'
~Lindy, The Silver Needle Newlsetter, 5.12.09

Perfect description. :D My stash is indeed a glorious thing to behold.

About a week ago, I posted my Anti-Journal and in that post I talked a tiny bit about the Stash Game. Twice a year, the women (there have been a couple of men, but mostly it is women) of SewingMamas participate in what we call 'The Stash Game'. It is completely voluntary and we all work on the honor system and what we call 'Sew N Show' to report our stuff for the game part of it. We collect points based on the yardage we sew and things that we use (elastic, buttons, etc - these are commonly called notions). We can also accrue points for fabric that we sell or give away/donate. Although, I'm not sure that anyone banks a whole lot of points for giving away fabric, most of us are pretty dang attached to our stashes. LOL And, there are prizes to be won as well.

I find it to be a good time to make things like pajamas and clothes for the next coming season and things like that. And, with two nearly grown children, it goes thru a fair amount of my stocked up fabric stash as well. Which banks me some point. :D This is the first stash game in my nearly 7 years on the site that I have actually participated for more than a week (hello! Not exactly a commitment minded individual here.) I have participated a couple of days here and there in the past, but always started. Never finished. We just submitted our week #1 totals to the 'StashGoddess' and haven't found out where we are in the rankings yet. But for the first week, I logged some serious sewing time and that added up to a grand total of 218 points, which translates to 22.5 yards of fabric sewn, equaling 3 tops, a nightgown, a dress, and a scarf for the youngest, 6 pairs of pajama shorts for the oldest, and 5 pairs of pajama leggings for me.

Now that I have those basics out of the way, it has been going to bit slower as far as the sewing goes. But, I'm excited to see what I end up with at the end of it all. So far, I am well on my way to completing my goal of sewing thru 200 yards of fabric by the end of this year. And that is exciting to me. :D Trust me. 200 yards will barely make a dent. But I will have accomplished something I set out to do and that is well worth it to me.

I will update here as soon as I know how week #1 pans out - where I stand in the rankings, etc. And I will continue to post updates as the game goes on.

Patience Grasshopper

Oddly enough, I have actually been doing stuff. In fact, I have been really busy. I've been making plans and working on projects and getting things started.
So why does it feel like I am not accomplishing much of anything?

I think that everyone feels this way at some point in time. I have this huge list of things that I have planned out for my year, some projects will literally take the entire year to adventure thru, and I am working on several different things as we speak. I want to see the results of my planning and my working, but they are just not there yet. I am finding that sometimes adventuring requires patience. LOL

One of the year long projects I'm working on that I'm pretty dang excited about is 50 Canvases in 2014 For those of you that suck at math (like me :D) it breaks down to roughly 1 complete painting per week. Which is a fairly big deal for me 'cuz I haven't really painted a whole lot in the past several years and I have serious issues with commitment, so we'll see how it goes.
Also, because I totally love the women of Wonderstrange, I am going to attempt The Anti-Journal with Sarah. Again, not being a commitment oriented kind of person, I'm a little apprehensive about it. I am, however, totally committed to throwing myself into it 1000% and crashing and burning if that is what occurs. Hurray for the adventure!
I thought I might join in on the 100 Things to Draw When You're Bored 2014 edition but I'm not really talented in the drawing department. Perhaps if I am either really bored or really desperate I might start. Rest assured that, if I do officially add that to my plate, I will not be subjecting anyone's eyes to the trauma of viewing my doodles. LOL
I'm also signed up for a heART swap for Valentines over at MotherHenna. I've participated in artist collaborations over there before and they are so much fun. I actually have my 20 cards nearly finished and will be blogging about them shortly. I am super excited to see what the other participants have come up with. I really miss exchanging art with others, and it has been really fun to create something with heART.

On the non-art side of things (well, I guess it's still art, just a different type LOL), I am participating in Kids Clothes Week Jan 27th thru Feb 3rd. I know that it is supposed to be for the Winter session, but the girlchildren are not in need of any Winter clothing at this time. So, I'm going to sew for Spring/Summer because that is what they need. The youngest girlchild will likely end up with the majority of the items because she is the one that needs the most. The oldest will get some stuff, but not nearly as much because her closet is cram packed already.
I've also set myself up with the goal of sewing thru (or selling/giving away) a minimum of 200 yards of fabric this year. While it may seem like a ridiculously astronomical amount of fabric, I can assure you that I have plenty in my stash to complete that goal (and then some.) Every year I say that I want to sew more and I want to get my fabric under control (I'll post a picture of my stash later for reference). But I never manage to actually do it. I sew and I sew and I sew, but I also buy and I buy and I buy. So, less buying, more sewing (not no buying because that would just be too much to deal with. LOL)
There is also an 'UpCycle' contest over at SewingMamas that I have tentatively signed up for. I have no idea what I will be making for that, but it is due the 29th. I need to figure it out quickly so I can get started and finished and submitted. Especially with everything else that I'm already doing.

Then there's the list of books I want to read and recipes I want to try and a couple of other things that I am still fleshing out.

So, I have been busy. I'm not getting much completed, but I am working my ass off. And it actually feels pretty good. I think I kinda like it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I do.