You always ask great thought-provoking questions, Bear! And make me wish I were a better quilter/organizer/crafter than I am!
I am a fabric-gatherer, by nature and I 'kit' up a quilt (mostly they exist in my head for a while), when I find the fabric. I put that fabric in a bin until I'm ready to take it on. My fabrics remain unwashed heathens until I'm ready to go/sew. I don't always wash, if I feel good about the fabric not bleeding (again, I go by feel rather than hard logic and strong habit). If I have designed the pattern, I *do* print it in with the fabric pieces, or place the reference to which book/magazine it came from. Sometimes my design is vague notes and thoughts about how it could go. Usually things solidify when I finally get all the fabric together, I *have* to solidify the pattern and be sure there's enough of everything.
I never cut things up ahead of time, unless it's already in my scrap bin! What if I change my mind!?!
Even when I did my scrap bin flip-and-sew quilt just recently, I had to cut up more as I went. so pre-cutting only got me so far. I decided it would be a much bigger scrap quilt than originally planned. Meh, I guess I like being able to modify...
I might include binding fabric -especially if I go out of my way to get something special (like the candy cane stripe on a Christmas quilt) I don't include the rest of the goods, batting, thread, etc. as I assume I will have *something* in the stable that will work. I've usually got 2-3 pre cut batting packages around, and any amount of scrap pieces if need be. I can see where my methods could use some more discipline, but so far -with the limited room I have for things, it works out pretty well. I can go over to a stack of 'proto-quilt kits' and see what whets my appetite!