My MIL told me that I could go through her stash before she put it out in the yard sale. I did pick out a few pieces of blue and used them in a scrappy quilt. As I was putting the binding on, my fingers turned a lovely shade of indigo. Although I had prewashed all the fabric - this was OLD fabric and it ran like the ocean. 9 washes later, the water was starting to clear but the fabric had changed dramatically. From then on I became very leary of old stash.
Another time, I had a few projects piled on the table and I needed to trim one last block. I remember thinking that I needed to be extra careful because I had NO fabric left. I cut the block perfectly. Unfortunately, IT was laying on the corner of another block and I whacked off the corner. Can't remember how I resolved the problem, but now - when I think "Be EXTRA careful OR....." I usually take the time to remove the obstacle. Some things are not worth repeating.