Hands up all of you who have lots and lots and lots of materials?
Uhu.
Now, hands up all of you who know what they're going to make with most of those materials?
Uhu.
Is it me, or are there not many people who know what they're going to make with their materials mountain? No...didn't think so. Quilters call it building a stash. Problem is, they often keep adding to that stash without actually doing anything with the fabric. Then, they call it 'collecting', to justify what they're doing. They admire their fabric, stroke it, pat it, think about combining it with other fabrics... do anything except actually make anythng. Painters collect paint...or materials...or both. Ditto with mixed media artists.
I think that this kind of thing is counter productive. A materials mountain may be a thing of beauty...but it stops you working. It is often confusing; when you have matched the same piece of cloth in permutations with six different fabrics, in six different ways, how do you decide what to do with it? And it means you need lots of space to store it all in (another excuse for not getting the work done ; I haven't got enough space...).
I think that productive creative people buy materials for projects; stash builders collect materials to fuel their fantasy of being a productive creative person. Which are you? Which would you rather be? And finally, what are you going to do about it?
