No Matter What You Call It

Susan Being Snippy wrote - I read with interest your calculations and estimate of value of your current stash. I would like to say, that contrary to previous comments - I think that once you have purchased an item, tool, book, or stash, it essentially becomes valueless, except to yourself.

You may have missed the beginning of the conversation Susan. My insurance agent and I have been talking over how to insure the replacement value of my studio, whether that should be done under a business policy like a music teacher or under our home policy, and for how much.

While I completely understand and agree with your perspective in terms of time spent creating and the ability to make gifts (see Susan's comment yesterday if you don't know what I'm referring to) my posting wasn't about the emotional aspect of creativity. It's just cold hard facts of actual replacements costs that would occur for either home or business purposes. Think about them ONLY in terms of insurance.

Should something terrible happen - and one thinks of those things with fires raging all around - I'd want to be able to replace as many of these supplies and equipment as possible because, no matter what you call it - inventory or stash -without those supplies, there would be no gifts or donations and definitely no playing. To me, they are incredibly valuable as opposed to valueless. They are a major part of my essence of being.

The insurance value is not so much about what something cost you as it is about what it would cost to replace. Here's a reverse example. My curl up chair was free because a friend was changing her furniture and giving it away. Replacing it in the event of fire or flood would cost between $1,500 and $2.000, which I know from shopping for one prior to getting this one for free. Now that I've had - and absolutely love - the chair for several years and have spent countless hours reading, journal writing and creating from that chair, I'd definitely want another one and that's the whole point of insurance.

Now that I'm closing the business, we've had to make changes to our policies. In order to know for sure that our current package is somewhat in the ballpark for replacing everything, it seemed a wise idea to have a good guesstimate of what the contents are worth. That and Louise's thoughts earlier prompted yesterday's posting.

As the comments show, it's quite shocking to see that end figure and from my teaching experience I know that most women have a LOT more than I do. Even those who think they don't have a lot in their studio might be surprised at how much those supplies add up to. If the studio includes one sewing machine and a serger, a small selection of fabric and thread, notions of any kind, a desk, a chair, and ironing equipment, and any kind of pressing or cutting surface, as well as rotary cutting supplies, the total is already well over ten thousand. I'd hate for anyone to be under-insured.

I'm glad I posted those thoughts yesterday because they have a lot of readers thinking about their own studio which is wise from both an insurance and a purchasing point of view. Now that I'm retired my creative needs are changing. One of my goals is to shift the contents of my studio in the direction of change. Right now, they reflect twenty years of being in a textile business.



I was rather surprised to note yesterday that - 26 years later - the value of my current studio is about the same as what I paid for my first house. That thought occurred to me as I was stitching around the outside of the circles with a rayon thread (from stash) and debating what color to use on the inside (from stash). I'm still pondering how I feel about that reality. Meanwhile - see the turquoise on the inside of the circle? It's the felt pen from tracing the shapes. Bad choice. I trimmed it off before adding the inner thread work that you see in the image below. PROGRESS has been made. This is good.




Yesterday, Howard and I had coffee on the porch, went for a walk, and then out for breakfast. We went to a restaurant right on the sidewalk downtown across from the farmer's market. The weather was perfect and sunny. It was quite lovely. After we got home, he played in the workshop and I spent some time stitching in the studio. It was a quiet, leisurely day - just like a holiday should be. Today will be much the same.

A small celebration - all but two of the fabrics for the lines & shapes pieces and all of the thread so far have come from my stash. So did the batting, backing, interfacing, fusible web, and basting spray. As you can imagine, it's a huge relief to NOT have to pay for these supplies right now. I'm so thankful. It helps me to enjoy this last exhibit rather than feel pressured and stressed by the expense. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the texture pieces. I'm pretty sure that I'll have almost all of their ingredients as well. YES YES. That would be fabulous.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - all the circles are stitched