I have a fabric stash but not by intention. I usually buy the fabric required for my project but I buy a little extra fabric to allow for mistakes in cutting. I have also bought the fabric required for a quilt and when I start to make the quilt I will realize that 1 or 2 of the fabrics just isn't working in the color scheme and so I buy some more fabric to replace them. After 37 years of quilting I have a larger stash than I imagined. I have made so many scrap quilts but I think the fabric breeds during the night when the lights go off because I barely make a dent in the stash.

I started quilting only a few years ago and was amazed how quickly my stash began to accumulate and then I was gifted a larger amount. Its very easy to get overwhelmed and I find unless I keep it very organized I don't use it as I should. I forget what I have and then end up buying more. Out of sight can be out of mind and sometimes what you have is not what you want to use. I have quit buying for the most part and only add solids, neutrals and blenders and I am trying really hard to work with what I have first then if after I go thru everything and I mean everything I let myself buy a bit more.

I see others struggle with their stash, can't find anything, find they don't like it anymore or are not using it. I think it depends on the person some like the rush of buying, some will use what they have first and others like to buy as they go and only maintain a small stash. Space, money and your own personality should guide you a bit.

It's really easy to get carried away so I find now I want just a moderate stash that I can keep up with, keep organized :not my strong suit at all, that still allows me to pull a project together. With a smaller stash I don't really feel guilty if I occasionally buy something.

I buy per project. It's a large part of the fun of making a new quilt! "Yay, new fabric!" My stash is all scraps and I use them to make 6" blocks that I see on line.

I have a big stash of ufo's. wish i would get busy and finish them. I like buy fabric only as needed but I usually buy more then needed so I have a med. size fabric stash to.

I think what's better might depend on the kind of quilting you prefer. I recently pulled a bunch of large floral prints from my stash along with coordinating fabrics, matched them with patterns and began making the tops, and I found that I wasn't as happy with these more spontaneous quilts as I've been with my planned quilts that spring from a specific idea or inspiration. So this leads me to believe that in the future, buying by project might be a better approach for me.

I think if you're a scrappy quilter, you pretty much need a stash.

I think it depends on what kind of quilts you like to make. My favorite quilts are "I Spy" so I collect the fabrics such as kids, animals, Christmas, Halloween, etc. And I like to make the GFG. I know that I am going to need fabrics to compliment the others, but I don't buy the coordinating fabrics until I need them I tried to "stock up" when there are sales but I found most of that didn't work within the quilts, or it was a few inches short of my needs and ended up giving a lot of it away. It is fun to buy for a new project.

Mostly I buy for a certain project, but within the last year my daughter found a bargain at a garage sale. Since she doesn't quilt, all of the cottons came to me. We started out with 6 large lawn and leaf trash bags, 2 of which were non-cottons that she kept, 1 bag was all flannel, mostly kid themed, 1 was yardage of good quality cotton, 1 was mostly fat quarters or larger, and 1 was scraps of all sizes. All of this for $40.00. It's taken me awhile to get it all organized as my sewing room was under construction, but just this week I was able to iron and cut into usable strips that bag of scraps. There is some scrappy quilts in my future!

i'm so glad i bought a stash while i was still working. i9 love petting the fabric as much as sewing with it

That's me! I've always said I was stockpiling fabric while I was working and had money so that if I fell on hard times, I could still quilt. And I do love looking at and petting my fabric. I'm going to start picking out fabrics for my next project this weekend. I love going thru all my fabrics and deciding what to use.

I have a pretty big stash. But I still buy pretty fabric. It sits out in piles in my sewing room, so I start using it, going to my stash to add fabrics. I think if I only worked from my stash, it would be harder for me to pull it all together. Unless it's reds and whites or blacks and whites, for instance. And I'm another one who bought and bought while working thinking I'd use all of that after retirement. It hasn't worked out that way.