I guess that i am more of a nonstasher. I buy for quilts at the time I am ready to sew and whatever is leftover goes to "stash". I think this is more thrifty because I don't have money tied up in fabric that I am not using. I am willing to even pay full price because I don't have thousands of dollars tied up in piles of stash. Different perspective.

I like my quilts that have many patterns so I tend to buy 1/2 yard or a yard of fabric for the tops. I do buy 3-4 yards if I see a wonderful sale for backings. I also like to piece my backings to create interesting backings. I also found what I bought a few months ago no longer really appeals to me...but if cut into small pieces they will look fine. I do not want a huge stash...One closet full is plenty. There are always sales going on.

I agree, you'll almost always use/need tone on tone, marbles, and blenders. The "Stonehenge" line is currently one that I drool over! If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket and your not sure what to get, but you need to put that fire out (lest it never happen again <g>), then get 3-5 yards of these to start. If you see prints that make you go "Oooooo!!" - then get a few yards of that as well. Grab a few fat quarters.

Naturally look for all the sales.

Garage/estate sales & Craigs list are great places to stash build. Lots of them are family members selling "Moms" stash after Mom has passed. You may not like the whole stash, but get it all, cherry pick it, then sell the rest here on QB - or donate it to a group to do charity quilts.

And don't forget QB here. Look at the sale posts. And (confession time) look at all the other posts as well. I recently saw a photo of someone's sewing room that they were organizing, in the photo was a rolled bolt of a print that I've been looking for for AGES. I wrote here to ask if she was interested in selling it and sure enough - she was.

Also, if you buy 3 yards of something today, decide what you want to use it for a year from now but need 3.5 yards but the stores no longer carry it - ask the folks on here if they have it in their stash and are willing to part with it. I've only been here a few months and so far I've seen some pretty incredible "finds".

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Normally I would ''never'' re-post an entire orgional message BUT this is some OUTSTANDING advice and is worth reading again!!

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Ok, I am a fairly new quilter too, and don't have nearly as much stash as people here show, and I should add that I don't want to have that much stash, I am a bit of organization and neat freak, and I would feel uncomfortable with too much clutter.

Now that being said, I did want to have some pieces that could be inspiration for me for the quilts I want to make and for some freedom to change things around. What I did to start with was buying bundles of FQ in fall colors and spring colors, then I would shop some sales and get a yard or two of fabrics I like, then I added some tonals and batiks in my favorite colors to help bridge some gaps in the color spectrum. Now when I am planning a quilt, I check out my stash and pick one or more fabrics then take them to the LQS to get more for that quilt. I love it!

I should add that most of my quilts are smaller so that yard or two have been mostly enough. If I were into making large quilts, I would have gotten more like 3 or 4 yards.

Good luck and have fun!

I am a newbie also and have a very little stash that is growing with sales. My current love is batiks and I think of them more as blenders depending on the "prints" on them. I try to buy 1-3 yards when I am stashing. more toward the three yards is better. But then again I don't do large quilts yet. I also try to use at least one of the fabrics from my stash for every quilt. unless I have nothing that "looks" like the recipient. have one of those that I am working on collecting now for my MIL. getting ready to also start two quilts. one for my dd and one for a new niece that will be born at the end of summer. dd's will be partly from my "stash" that I have been collecting specifically for her quilt and the baby blanket will be totally from my stash. have a FQ set that I have been wanting to use for a while but haven't had a good reason to use it.

I buy almost all of my stuff from sales now. There are so many people who want to get rid of fabric.
Judy

I usually buy at least a half yard, although I do buy quarter yards also. I usually buy as much as I can afford, and I don't buy any if it's not on sale or I don't have a coupon. I've also bought fabric, clothes, sheets, etc., at thrift stores, auctions and yard sales.

When I began I bought for quilts that I wanted . I have a stash now because Iwant to do scrappies. One thing Ilove to do is to buy the rolled up remnants ..any size they ar 50%off. I really dont think of the size of them. One month I would search for only one color til I had enough for some order in the scrappy. then on to another color. 40 years later voila..a colorful stash.

you will get there sooner than you think. have fun.

I've been quilting for a year and from my experience so far, it totally depends on what quilts you like to make.

I started out buying fat quarters, but found they tend to be too small for what I like to do with a color. So I started buying yardage - and am finding that more than a yard is usually too much for my uses. If I need more for a border or backing fabric, I prefer to buy it as needed to make sure I'm happy with the match. Sooo.... at the moment I'd tend to buy a yard or so.

I've always gone for the fabrics I loved, and that turns out to have been a good decision. There are a few in my stash that I bought because I thought they'd "go with everything" (neutrals...) and hey - I'm not using them.
I'm just not a traditional quilter and not big on neutrals. I've now sorted those "sensible-but-uninspiring" (for me) fabrics into their own stack, and might use them for dyeing and painting on once I get around to that.

So... sorry for the novel, it's just in case any of this helps you think! :D What I'd most like to recommend is, trust yourself. Buy what you love, experiment, find out what's best for how you like to create.