I usually buy 2 yards of whatever - along with maybe one or two other pieces that "go"... if not, then just the two yards. In the case of the swirl that really (really) shouted at me, I got three yards... which I'm glad I did - made a huge quilt.
When Hancock had the batiks half price I got one yard of a whoooooole bunch of them - those are so cool for fans and plates :shock:
I have lots of batiks and brights 8)
I'm thinking about donating some of my stash to the quilt quild that I joined. There are some women there who absolutely cannot afford to go out and buy and I have lots of stuff I got from Walmart on the markdown (not the cheap-cheap stuff) for a dollar a yard and kind of want to weed that out...