Thanks for all the ideas. Working with fat quarters is nice, but I have managed to store up extra yardage of material I like a lot (and have plans for).
I suppose it depends on what you want to use it for. For the Hawaiian quilt panels a couple of fat quarters would suffice, but I feel compelled to buy at least a half-yard and add the remains to the stash. I'm planning 'my' quilt for last and that is going to be a patchwork containing all the fabrics I've used on everyone else’s. It should be a nice little pile by that time.
String is another thing. For the Hawaiian quilting I need so little to appliqué the piece on and they're unusual colors. At least the spools fit nicely in a little box (thus far). Leslee was kind enough to offer string enough for the pieces, which should help curb the need to buy it. Only white quilting thread is going to be a constant and I've already learned that lesson: buy large spools!