I was working on a new project the other day, and it became clear that the original idea I'd had was not working. If I didn't have a stash, I would have had to put it all away until I could go fabric shopping. Instead, I found the perfect substitute fabrics in my stash, and was able to continue. That's one of the advantages of having a stash. Another is that you can't always find all the perfect fabrics for a project in one store at one time; having a stash allows you to combine fabrics from various time periods together in one quilt.