if i had to do it all over again, i'd never build a stash. i now have my "stash" in plastic bins. all 20 of em. they cover a wall almost to the ceiling. then i have cookie containers the metal ones very large they have threads. then i have cloth bags for each project that "i'm working on." they are piled up in a corner of this room, which now you cant get into there is a small walk area. whats in pins are too hard to get to. so i go to the store and buy what i need. either i dont have the right color, or there isnt enough or i just cant get to it. after a while your style changes as well as the fabric in the shops. save yourself aggrevation and dont bother. then, my fabric doesnt come from joann's. it comes from a local fabric shop or two or three. so my fabric is not cheap. now do i really want to throw it out? do i want to donate it? i'm at the point of overkill.

Your fabric stash sounds like my yarn stash. As soon as the roads clear up after tomorrow's snow fall, I'm giving some of my cheaper yarn to the Fabric Recycle store. My yarn was stacked in boxes, which I hated, I got it down to one box. My embroidery floss are together in numbered order except that that I'm using. I have tons of aida cloth. Mine isn't basic aida, it's from Picture This Plus and Silkweaver. My thread is all DMC and Weeks with Thread Gatherer silk. The quilt fabric I buy comes from quilt shops. The quilt fabric I have from Joanns feels like paper to me. I will use the scraps I have, but I don't care for it. I always bought my fabric at quilt shops. But occasionally I bought fat quarters from Joanns. It has to be washed in fabric softener. I am so ocd about my fabric it has to have a designer name on the selvage label....and my yarn isn't cheap either. Not any more.

I built my stash by checking out fabric in every store I went into. I did purchase a lot of clearanced material at JoAnns and WalMart. WalMart actually had some nice material at one time, then they decided to stop selling it at a lot of their stores, but that decision backfired on them so they brought it back but not like they had years ago. I am not a fabric snob, it doesn't have to say Moda or Andover or any other big name. If I like the pattern and the color and as long as it feels nice and is that thin, flimsy stuff I would purchase it. My mom said that I should buy several yards if I saw something I liked, but I think because she sewed clothing she told me that. I now realize that you don't have to purchase more than 1/2 to 1 yard of anything, unless it's something really, really nice and can be used with many different fabrics do I buy more now. Like some other quilters I am now donating many pcs of fabric to a local place that makes quilts and pillow cases for children with cancer and also to shelters. No one builds a stash in a few weeks, it takes years.

When I started building my stash (still not bookoes like a lot of gals on here) I bought from #1piecemaker. Her fabric is awesome and prices are substantially lower than most that I've seen. I bought some beautiful fabric from her. If you do want to buy from her, please mention my name. Her sales are monthly, if not more. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Ellie (aka sewellie

I go to the local FabricRecycle store. Quilters or sewers donate to the store for store credit, and people like me buy it.I bought 5 mini packages of charm pieces today for $1.20 each. I need to make 156 3 inch squares, and I so far, have 35. I LOVE the Fabric Recycle store, I can't stay away and I go every Friday. I bought enough blue for my snowman top of it, gold for the stars. I should've bought green, and I ordered red from a flash sale with CraftTown fabrics for about $4.00 a yard. I need white, and green. If FabricRecyle doesn't have it, there's 2 quilt shops. One is 5 mintues away, small. The other is huge, and is near the FabricRecyle store. I saved my scraps today. But I guess, I need to know exactly what to buy, as in the snowman quilt, and buy extra, which I"m doing.

Lesson learned, I tried to finish a quilt and I had to order yardage from etsy. Thank goodness I found it. I'll cut it into my own strips and finish it.

So right now I'm buying what I need, though I do like fat quarters. I have the entire sock monkey set of fat quarters I bought a few years ago...surely there's something I can do with them. And I like jelly rolls, which I have several of.

That is beautiful! Just stunning.

My stash is mainly leftovers but there is a lot of it. I do buy some fabrics when I am on trips. I bought quite a bit of cheap fabric from JAF when I first started quilting a few years ago. Recently I went through and pulled all the junky fabric. I know I will never use it. I might sew it into dog beds for the shelter. My problem is that not too much goes together. I have been planning to have a night to separate all the strips into piles that work together for quilts. I did not know when I started quilting that I would acquire so much stuff!

My mother's stash and mine started with leftovers from sewing projects for the kids and grandkids. It was a way to use up those scraps and make something useful out of them. Then the quilting bug bit us and we bought pieces to go with our leftovers, and then had leftovers from the pieces we bought and it just went from there. I have cupboards (plural) full of fabrics and it is wonderful to go to the and pick out what I want at 11:00 at night or very early in the morning. I also have a stash of thread and other quilting supplies that is always available to me. Occasionally I buy new fabric if something strikes me but I am trying to use from my stash as much as possible. The fabric was a lot less expensive when I bought that and I feel faint when I see the new prices on the new fabrics. It is not necessary to buy just for your stash, but buy when you need it and if it is something you really like and a stash will take care of itself.

I am a bit of a fabric snob as well; however, I tend to purchase by feel rather than name. I seldom pay more than $5 a yard. My stash is quite large and my purchasing has been considerably less in the last year.

My sewing room and stash started about 15 years ago it started with my first grand child. I started with flannels. I made a crazy patch ive always loved sewing. I work in a fabric department and get to order the fabrics. My stash has built to full i started with fat quarters then half yards then full yards,then 3 yards, then 5 yards, i have them organized in totes by color and types of fabric. I have since slowed down on the building. Now im pretty specific i buy only when it calls me. I love the feel and textures and just being able to touch it. I often will just wil pet abolt of fabric when cutting for someone at work. Its really bad when i get to the end of the bolt and i have to have the rest. I have 2 seasons fishing and sewing its now sewing for me. Its wonderful to be able to shop from my stash or share with someone who wants to learn with out having to break the bank. Fortunately or unfortunately my son loves quilting as well he also enjoys the textures and love of fabric. We call it therapy.