My stash just seemed to grow, as each time I finished a quilt, I had scraps. I collect the 1/2 yard minimum cuts from fabric that is on sale. I usually get them for half price. I buy from the sale table in our local fabric shop and look for the fabric that I know was $10 dollars plus a yard. Fabric shopping this way is an addiction for me. I don't get carried away, just pick a few cuts and take them home. I have lots of small half yard cuts for the scrappy quilts, then if I don't have the borders I go get them when I need them. If the sale is a good one, I go for the background pieces in a future pattern that I am interested in making. After I have all the fabric and a quilt in mind, I kit it up, cutting the pieces and the borders, so I don't use the fabric for something else, or cut into it leaving me short. Kits are great for those retreats. I just grab one and go. As long as you are making quilts, your stash is going to grow. In some cases it can even get way out of hand. My rule is to shop the sales and think ahead, it saves me a lot. I don't usually get fabric unless I have a kind of idea of how I will use it.