It does sometimes strike me as ironic that quilting has evolved into a hobby that can draw you into spending a lot of money on fabric annd equipment, and it can even begin to feel ESSENTIAL to spend all that money in order to do it properly, when its roots are in times when everything had to be treasured and used because people had so little. I've called a halt on stash building and am beginning to think of other ways of finding fabric and other supplies. Do I really need a 2000 dollar machine for quilting, or might an old Singer do the job? Do I need cupboards full of fabric that I'm not using, or might I buy one project at a time and try some of the great ideas on this thread? We're in times when many of us need to step back and question our spending, find more frugal ways of living - and maybe that's not such a bad thing. Look at the creativity that came out of earlier hard times in the form of wonderful vintage quilts!