i only buy fq's if i need a (little bit) of something for a quilt....when i made my sister in law's sandhill crane quilt i wanted all neutrals and did not have alot of variety...buying fq's allowed me to put more variety into the quilt than i would have been able to had i been buying yardage. also if i see something i just absolutely love but have no idea what i will do with it...i will get a fq...if i see a fabric and think of a dozen things to do with it i buy yardage...fq's just allow us to accumalate more variety with less expense...like buying charm packs so you can have a piece of every fabric in a collection-often 40-50 different fabrics...a charm pack or other pre-cut gives you all of them instead of buying one or two at a time in yardage.
all that being said...i very seldom buy precuts...but once in a while they turn out to be just what i need.

I kind of made that mistake with my first quilt. It is a king size and I used all fat quarters to make it. Well the Walmart I bought them at sold out, mostly by me I think, and didn't get them in again. I had to end up haveing a field day of visiting every Walmart I could find in Maryland to find more of the ones I had run out of to finish the quilt. I ended up with 1 fat quarter of the main color left over. EWWW, that was close. I was frantic! LOL I will not use just fat quarters again.

So some of you just make more tonals...and don't worry about matching the fabrics as long as the colors are similar (as in the picture of the Cal King with burgundies and greens (it was gorgeous!)

Thanks for the ideas. I have some fat quarters and don't find myself using them, so maybe I should search for some "fat quarter quilts".

I don't buy fat quarters nor have I used them. I sewed for years before I started quilting. I think I just got used to buying yardage and it is firmly ingrained in my brain. I also like having plenty of extra for "just in case I goof up" and I usually do. :)

I don't use them either.

I will buy fat quarters if the print or color catches my eye. I use them in exchanges, and to do small projects, like pincushions, stuffed toys, or exchange blocks.

I buy FQ's if I can't find the color or print in yardage. I have a small collection of them.

I bought them initially to help add variety to my growing new stash. Now I purchase them for table toppers/runners (small projects) or for punch fabrics and for swaps/secret pals.

I love to make scrappy quilts, and I lOVE varity!

Well, its like this.......

1. They are a great way to try different color combinations without breaking the bank....
2. Allow me to indulge...texture, color, prints.......
3. Builds my stash
4. They all look so pretty whe I stack them in my sewing and quilting cubbies......

~~~smiling~~~~
:lol: :lol: