That's a good way to look at it. I think I'll go through and cull my patterns with this in mind.

Maybe quilting as a hobby has come full circle. When every quilt was cut out for a borrowed template, hand pieced and hand quilted, the cost of materials might not have been that important. Then came the revolution: rotary cutting, chain piecing and machine quilting. Quilt in a day became a possibility. Now, as prices for fabric and batting go up, I can see how it is no longer advantageous to make a “quilt in a day”. As I move towards retirement, I have more available time, so my labor has less value (even as my skill level has increased). I find myself gravitating to complicated patterns both for the quilt top and the quilting.

Is it worthy? That's a valid question these days regarding quilt patterns and many other things I'm accustomed to just buying whenever I wish.... Inflationary price pressure puts many things into perspective.

Back to batt-worthy projects - does that mean I might end up with less WIPs and UFOs?? HaHa - even I think that's funny!

I use pretty much all by batting by making "frankenbatting" with it. Just join pieces together using the zigzag on my machine.

I remember reading that 'back in the day' they used to make quilts out of worn clothing and anything cloth, and when that was too worn to use for the quilt top pieces were sewn together, or older quilts were used, to make the inside.

It's amazing when I think about how maybe 50 years ago we had no rotary cutters, boards, interfacing, batting, embroidery machines, dozens of brands and colors and weights of threads, scissors, irons, and fabrics, let alone rulers and gadgets, and now, we may have really more than what we need.

I keep my batting scraps for when I need to do a sample of what my quilting design will look like. Then, when I don't need it anymore for reference, I bind that scrap and use it for a cup cozy or a hot pad.