I never buy for a specific purpose, OTHER than in the most general terms...I buy to fill out my palette so that i have a shade and tone i need when i need it...i live an hour from walmart and 3 hours from joanns and michaels... i need my fabrics now when i'm in the mood... having said that, i try to be efficient about it... when choosing fabrics for a new project, i shop in the stash...then i try to see what's missing... then i get out my paint chips and match for shade and tone to each of the stash fabrics... i use the chips to decide what i need to fill in and then take all the chips shopping with me...i look ONLY at what i need...and i am looking for color and texture, not the specific of the print... that will fit in if the color is right...

PS...all my fabric and my sewing and knitting machines are in my will. My sons know where everything is to go and it is written down, officially.... i'm not giving up my quilting now to make it easy for the grown men i took care of ... payback time!!!! lol!!!!

My LQS just closes the doors with the final sale at 65% off....two yard minimum...I just added to my stash!

I only buy fabric on sale, and in minimum 1 yd cuts. Since my favorite LQS (Hayloft) closed in November, I don't think I will be doing anything but buying online. I just can't see spending those exorbitant prices at other quilt shops that rarely have sales. I have been buying a lot of pre-cuts to use in charity quilts that I will make throughout the year. I also watch for sales on quilt backings, and will try to refill my stash of them.

I know what you mean. LOL I'm determined that I'm only going to buy fabric or other quilt related items, if I have to have it for a certain project. To make more room and give me some spending money, I'm also planning on trying to sell some upholstery/tapestry type fabrics that I've bought with the intention of making purses and totes, but have realized that I'm not going to live long enough to make them all up. LOL So, I've measured and written a short description, and taken pictures of the 56 pieces of fabrics, hopefully I'll be able to sell all or most of it. I' still have another 2 totes full to measure. LOL

Since hubby was forced into early retirement, I'm on an NO BUY diet. lol

I am seeing sticker shock at my LQS, even online fabric, $10.85 a yard for new lines of fabric. So I am buying when they have a sale. Ericas is having a great sale January 1, a lot of fabric 40%-50% 0ff. I use my stash when I can, but if I don't add to it, evenually I will run out of fabric. So it really does make sence to buy 'on sale' fabric. I always try
to have several patterns on my 'to do' list so when I find fabric on sale I can choose fabric for one of these patterns.
I'm also looking for backing fabric for a couple quilts I have recently finished.

I am trying real hard to use stash. I first pick out a project and then go through my stash which is organized by amount of fabric and find what I can there for the project. If it is impossible to find all the fabric I will then buy just one or two pieces to finish out the project. I look at fabric a lot but I am trying to resist the urge to just buy more because it always seems to be wrong when I get to the project.

I consider my stash to be extensive - but not compared with some I've seen in pictures here on the Board. However, saying that, if I see a fabric I love, I do buy it. I'm currently making a couple of scrappy quilts with my scraps and regular cotton stash (my batiks are for special occasions :o). Finishing up the Scrappy Maple Leaf and working on Bonny Hunt's Orca Bay mystery quilt. I have a friend who runs a Local Quilt Shop, but I can't resist Hancock's of Paducah (not part of Hancock Fabrics). I buy there when they have their batiks on sale and Free Shipping. Their online prices are way better than the in-store prices (I went there last April) You can sign up for e-mails telling when the batiks are newly added to web sale and when they have free shipping.

When I pass, my daughter is not going to know what to do with my stash so I guess I'd better put it in my will or in a letter to her.

I am really enjoying this board.

I'm going to try the fabric moratorium for this year. I'm awful. I already have so much fabric in my stash that goes with nothing else. Extremely annoying. (I'm very frustrated with myself.) So, I'm going to try to use up what I have by using lots of black, white, or dark blue to mix in with all the odd prints that go with nothing else.(scrappy) That being said...I will make my last purchase today. But, with a specific quilt in mind. And come January I'm really going to try to be creative with what I have. I'm only going to buy fabric if I absolutely have to, to finish the project at hand. No bulk buying. I already stocked up on batting. Which will last for a little while. So, I may very well need some of that. But, NOT until later in the year, depending on how fast I get WIP's finished.(I will piece as many backings as I can). (I'm a terrible compulsive collector. I fight with myself constantly. But, truly I hate clutter. I have one and only one Double size closet (not a walk in) dedicated to fabric and all quilting supplies. I do not allow it anywhere else which helps control the compulsion problem.)

So, my suggestion is to buy as needed for each project and have a couple projects on hand to work with and replenish as needed. And, I'm going to take my own advice. Good LucK! Happy Shopping! Happy Quilting!! :)

I have a small stash I got mostly from my cousin. I plan on going through it and buy blenders which I never thought of. Thanks for the tip. I also buy on line and sales.