Jackie -- a little trick I use for quilts that will stay in the family-- I make a pillow case or set of shams out of the leftover fabrics. I try to wash the pillow cases about as often as I do the quilts, so that the wear and fading will be roughly the same. Then if I need to do repairs down the road, I have a source for material that matches wonderfully. But I don't have fabrics sitting in my space taking up room.

Well as someone who just finally found a job this past year after being out of work for 4 yrs. I can say a stash comes in handy when you are no longer flush with cash to buy new fabrics :)

What a great idea! Thank you so much. This is something I will do, because all my quilts go to my family.

What a great idea. I will add this to my list of projects when I make a bed quilt.

Well, yes, some of us probably are hoarders, but not everyone with a large stash is a hoarder. If the stash interferes with the rest of your life, rather than enhancing it, then it's a problem. If the stash takes up space that is needed for other basic things, such as eating, cooking, bathing, sleeping, then it's a problem. If we spend money for fabric when it's needed for things like rent, food, or health care, then it's a problem. But if we just have more fabric than we can possibly use in our lifetime... well, it's not as bad as Imelda's shoe collection, is it?

My "collection" has reached critical mass....except my MIL in the assisted living facility said I could start storing it under her bed! The problem is,whenever I make a quilt,the scrap pile gets more horrendous. The DH says not to use time sewing scraps,whilst I still have uncut fabric in big pieces.

I don't think it's hoarding, although there are some aspects in common with hoarding. I buy with the purpose of using the fabric. Sometimes stash increases, sometimes it decreases. Sometimes I feel like quilting, sometimes I don't. Mine got out of control after a basement flood, followed by our boat sinking. Everything on the boat had to be washed, and everything that contacted the flood waters in the basement had to be washed, fabric had to be ironed. I didn't take new purchases to the basement, and I'm slowly organizing it mostly in the garage (so no car in there till I'm done). Then I've been really sick, so that slows stuff down. I've had trouble finding my UFO's, but I've finally found almost all of them, including a few I'd forgotten about. I started working on Christmas runners and discovered why I set it aside. But I've tried not to buy anything until I use a good portion of my stash.

I enjoy the entire quilting process, starting with fabric shopping! I don't do lots of other things, like eating out or going on expensive (or cheap) vacations. If someone who ate a nice dinner out once a week, instead spent the same amount on fabric, their stash would grow by leaps and bounds.
I think it's all what you think is important enough to spend your money on, and besides, fabric is non-fattening!

Since we use our fabrics for gifts, charity it's not hoarding. We have to collect something. Sue.

We have accumulated a rather large stash. I don't think we will ever be able to use it all up, but it is handy to have something to choose from when we are ready to start a project. I don't think that makes us hoarders. We have intentions to use what we have to make quilts, but even if we don't put it into quilts right away, we enjoy it. Sometimes it's fun to just go out to the sewing room and open the cabinets and admire the collection and remember when and where we bought the fabrics. In my mind, that is serving a purpose, if temporary.