I do have a stash of fabrics and I love having it. When matching fabrics for a matchy, matchy quilt it is great to find the right fabric to go with others. Now I am in the process of trying to use as I can. I make anywhere from 16 to 18 quilts a year, while working full time and doing my home chores. I love making quilts and that is what I do. I don't want to have to run out and buy fabrics.

You are prehaps the smarter by doing this, if things laying around bothers you. I am beginning to think like this also.So now I dont buy, I must use from stash and finish a project befor starting another one.And in this I find more peace for myself in my quilting. So to each her own.

Through quilting I've evolved from a "project oriented" approach to a "love the process" approach. Right now I'm working on a challenge at the guild. I'm randomly cutting and sewing curvacious strips together. I'm definitely enjoying myself. A friend is here for the week and she's working on an art quilt also. We critique each others and sew on each others and laugh and just enjoy the time together. No quilting store sorees. I do have to take a break for PT tomorrow. Since I have the stash, I make do with what I have. "Necessity is the mother of invention" and making due with what I have makes me more creative.

I think I need to find that "Quilters Will" though and make sure it's attached to my will.

you go girl, I'm just the other way. I love fabric, buy it every week and have it stocked piled. I'm planning on retiring next year and once on ss there isn't going to be money for fabric. My att phone bill has gone up $2.00 each month for the last 3 months, one of our local power co sent letters to their customers the rate is going up 25% and everyone has been to the grocery store, right? Gas here is south Mississippi is $3.589 a gallon.

I agree that this is a very personal choice. When other quilters are talking, the question of "how big is your stash?" usually comes up. Since I am a scrapbooker as well, I quickly realized that buying 12 x 12 scrap paper for my "paper stash" was more easily managed than buying fabric everytime I saw something I liked. A very dear friend gave my sister and I a lot of Civil War fabric and we immediately put it to use, so that stash has dwindled quickly. This gift of fabric fueled our creative juices and as a result many beautiful projects were completed. I don't have a lot of storage and disorganized "stuff" makes me nervous so I try to make an effort to buy only what I need for specific quilt projects.

I frequently sort through and give away fabric to the Thrift Store that I don't think I will use and no one to pass it too. This way, somewhere - someday, another quilter will get so excited that she found fabric at the Thrift store for her/his stash and that person will be very happy!!! Pay it forward!

It's a personal thing... I stock up on fabrics I love during sales especially and sometimes I'll splurge at full price. Some I have a plan for, others I don't. I live in a rural area so my stash contains a lot of basics like backgrounds and blender fabrics. Is it more than than I need... yes. But I consider it an investment. If my tastes change I'll cut it up and make scrappy quilts or use it for backings. There are worse vices than fabric!

With me I did not start out ''gathering''a stash -it just happened. Fabric sales always led to more fabrics grabbing me begging to be adopted. So I adopted them. Now it takes 2 trips of double stacked totes in an extended bed pick-up truck to move all of it. So I've almost got myself convinced to start sorting and thinning it down to a more manageable amount. I've never held a yard sale but once the weather breaks I will be having one.And there will be lots of yardage on the tables looking for new homes. It won't be easy to part with but I will never live long enough to use it all. My brother says I should open my own Hancock's franchise. He's such a funny man----

I have a small stash compared to what I have seen here - I keep mine in shoe box size containers (plastic) mostly by color - if I can't fit the lid on the box, it is time to make something from it. I happen to LOVE scrappy and very seldom buy fabric (for several years) to make a specific quilt - I only buy for borders and backs and that is only if I don't have something that will work - have been known to piece my backs to use up more scraps. I agree that there is only so much room and money and I would rather have the room than the stash - it is time to go through mine and make some contributions to some charity groups.

Gosh that sounds so cheap to me! It's been well over four bucks a gallon for awhile here in CA. But then again, everything is hideously expensive here!!

I'm a stasher, for sure - I get pleasure out of going through it periodically and I find it to be inspiring as well. I don't stash JUST to stash, I use it all eventually.

We all fall in a spectrum between "fabric collector" and "exact yardage only, please!" and nobody should feel obligated to be anything other than what fits their life - their taste, their budget, their space...

If I had more space, I'd definitely have a bigger stash though, I must admit. I yearn for space to keep rolls of batting, for example...and so many gorgeous batiks in this world.... Of course I also yearn to be independently wealthy so I could spend all day playing in my fantasy quilting room, with my fantasy stash...where needles never get dull and thread never breaks and points are never lost... ;)

I've quilted for thirty years. I had no intention of building a stash: it just happened!!! I cannot believe the amount of fabric, notions, etc. and at this point I cannot even remember when where or why I bought some of these things. I have made a few almost legendary scrap quilts though!!