I am late to the party! My "moratorium" is definitely a modified version, purchasing for specific in progress or immediately upcoming projects. Unless I find a shop while on vacation or some such.
For example, I am starting the annual Stash Buster quilt offered by Border Creek. Each year, they put out a new block pattern, along with possible layouts. The idea is to make a block a week, using stash. That sounds like a great use of stash, right? My problem was that I really like the layout with a dark background best, and had no yardage of the size needed. Somehow, in my mind, a scrappy light background throughout a quilt is wonderful, my favorite! Yet a scrappy dark background doesn't work. I want it all to match. So, yup, I immediately ordered 7 yards. My quilts are BIG! I wasn't thrilled with the customer service of the shop, a farily large, well known online presence. Ordered 1/1, knowing that was a holiday. Heard nothing, so finally emailed them on the 10th. 3 days later, it was prepped for shipping. I absolutely love the fabric, it's a gorgeous color, but 2-1/2 weeks for an online order? Anyhow - my stash buster quilt required 7 yards purchased, lol. Seems kind of backwards...
I was interested to see the fabric use calculation, but it doesn't include any seam allowance, which eats up a lot of fabric. I'm plodding away on Old Town, Bonnie Hunter's last mystery. When it's done, I'm going to weigh the top and calculate that (averaging 3 yards/lb) vs. the method from carolinamore and see what the difference is. I'm also keeping track of what I spend; I put a ledger sheet into my journal, along with a sheet protector to hold receipts so I can go back to review just exactly what I bought.
Earlier this month, I put the last of a binding on a very large (104" x 98") quilt, so my first entry is an out of about 14 yards. Seems almost like cheating as so little of it was done in 2025, lol.
After decades of quilting, I've got a large stash; mostly 1/2 to 1 yard cuts as I love the scrappy look. However, due to a need to get into the wall where it was stored, DH moved it all into bins and put it in the basement. Ugh. Difficult to get at, impossible to see. In addition to loving the scrappy look, I am willing to do a pieced backing with any large pieces left from a quilt, or yardage. If it's kind of, sort of in the same color family, I'm happy. Lots of blues in the top? Great, blue of some shade, or lots to make a pieced back of many shades.