First, let me say that without you telling us, I knew you were an engineer. I'm married to a computer engineer and engineers have a unique way of looking at things. I do, however, agree with not taking free fabric. I inherited my sister's stash when she passed away, so I kept what I thought I would use, then passed it on to a friend, who then passed on what she wouldn't use to a group that made charity quilts for children in local hospitals, spreading the wealth so to speak. I also agree with your last 3 bullet items, especially making shoddy quilts for charity, they deserve our best efforts. I still have a big stash, even though I gave away about 50% when we down sized to an apt.. I made a full size applique/pieced quilt for our DGD and used only fabrics from my stash. Now I try to buy for particular projects, and especially fabrics for backings and backgrounds, as I've used up the majority of my stash. I will say that every so often, I like to pull out a tote, presumably to edit my fabric, but it's nice to just look at it again and lots of times remember why I bought it. What can I say, I'm a fabricaholic.