I have a stash. It was inherited from my sister-in-law after she passed away. My purpose/goal/calling is to use her stash to bless others with a quilt from all that she had accumulated.
I have made quilts for family members using her fabric, first for the babies that would have been her grandchildren and now working on other family members, so they can continue to remember her. But many more quilts are just given to someone who can be blessed by a warm “quilty” hug.
I do not despise my blessing of a quilt stash. Nor do I build it any larger. Reducing a stash is a slow process but it is happening. I have one double wide closet for my stash and the bins of fabric are much less full than when I brought them home 18 years ago. I have never purchased new fabric for a whole quilt. I just could not justify the purchase when I have enough fabric already on hand. This results in most of my quilts being scrappy, but what is wrong with that? After nearly 18 years of making quilts, I still have a lifetime of fabric to fulfill my call to make quilts for others. It is a joy to find a pattern online or on this board and to shop my own stash for the fabric to make my version of the piece.
When I begin to feel frustrated with depth of my stash, I have reduced it by periodically pulling out cuts that I know I will not use, ever. That is a freeing experience and as others have said, it feels good to put the fabric into the hands of a quilter who will use it. Why let it sit in my bins when it could be in someone else’s quilt?
Do I ever shop? Yes, but not often. I have discovered the joy of wide backing and I often will purchase that. The scraps climb into the correct color bin and away I go again. The second thing I have discovered about using my "stash only" is I do not have the current trendy, modern colors. Well, that is OK too. I am more of a traditionalist anyway. Beautiful fabric does not have to be in the current color or print. Lastly, I purchase neutrals, often by the bolt or large cuts on sale that will make my colored scraps POP. Love my stash and love shopping from my stash.