We do have exemptions and we all have projects where we need just a little bit of this or that -- for the last couple of years that I've been a member of the thread, I've given myself a thrift store exemption. Honestly, it's pretty rare that you can get me to unclench my tight fists long enough to buy anything new and full price.
As I've continued in my fabric buying, I am buying less and less -- often when faced with some huge stashes unloaded on the thrift stores. Now instead of buying pretty much anything I saw I liked, I now have to give a judgement on how likely am I to use it in the next 5 years?
BTW, I love Concord and Cranston/VIP and even misspelled Daisy Kingdom. Having worked in advertising (and the hubby works for a company that makes fancy printed boxes for stuff), it's amazing how many errors and just plain typos slip buy. In the last year, hubby's company got a new client and the artwork they sent over had a typo in the company email that had missed notice until being sent outside to the printer.
I am still a sucker for cat prints
I have an entire box of cat prints and I think they are all making the move with me. I need to think of some more ways to use them. I've done the McCalls pattern twice, once for me (it was my first ever block swap), one for my Mother-in-law who loved mine, and I cut out a third (or at least the cat part, no background) but that was claimed by a friend after being in the box for 10 years or so.
Here's pictures of those. MiL's is sideways, has a simpler border. Mine shows the pieced and couched cord border. Both quilts had the same paw-print meander in the middle. MiL's had a walking paw print quilted design where I had the pieced foot prints.