toogie

Wow! These are all different but same fabrics. Very nice!

Anniedeb

I'm all over the map on this one! I buy multiple colors if I like the pattern/design. Many of my past projects have had the same fabric used in them. I love FQ's. I love the next "shiny bauble" I see. I buy what I like, often with nothing in mind. I'm getting better. My last quilt, Christmas projects, and the quilt I currently am working on I've done from my stash. In going through my bins for my current project, I came across lots of fabric that I had forgotten about, or stared at with the "where did this come from" look. I also found tons of scraps which I will have to figure out what to do with. I have one large bin, and 20 smaller bins, all stacked on our 3 season porch. I have promised DH that I won't buy any more bins.

MarionsQuilts

I usually buy fat quarters, so not a lot left over. When I do buy by the yardage, after two quilts of the same fabric, I'm done with it, and I give the rest away!

DawnFurlong

I tend to buy fabric specifically for a project. I typically only have one project going at a time. There have been a few times I have bought some fabric on sale, loosely with a project in mind. I mostly use that fabric for practice quilt sandwiches, as most of it I never ended up using in a project. Even at that, I still have a large Rubbermaid container of fabric odds/ends. This even after giving away A LOT of fabric when me moved to a different state several years ago (most of this fabric was left over from projects). I have never really gotten into scrappy quilts, though I like the look of many of them. But, I was loathe to let go of all this unused fabric, especially after reading a comment on Bonnie Hunters website to the effect that I paid for all that fabric - why not use it.

Generally by the time I am finished with a quilt, I am ready to move on to different fabric. Right now I need to go through that container and for the fabric I know I am unlikely to use - give it away (because it is okay to me, but I don't love it). I end up feeling overwhelmed with too much lying around that I am not using. I think I spend less money in the long run by only buying when I need it, and just for the project at hand.

That said, I am uncharacteristically in the middle of 3 projects. For one, I am utilizing left over fabric to try the Hunters Star pattern. For another, I had purchased fat quarters to make my first Log Cabin quilt. A third is quilting a king sized quilt I had pieced to use as backing to another quilt - but then didn't use it in that manner. It is kind of nice to be able to go back and forth between projects for a change of scenery. But who knows when I will complete any of them! Well - probably the quilting on the king sized quilt will make it first.

Jingle

I use to buy 4-6 yds. of each fabric. I wanted to make sure I had plenty. Not a whole lot of those pieces left. I ave used a lot of fabrics for donation quilts. Now buying mostly remnants to go with remnants of kid prints. I use to make only matchy matchy quilts, not so much now. Mostly scrappy quilts. I do need lots of blenders as they go very fast.

JJBlaine

You have no idea how this made me chuckle...my bed is a loft built into a closet, so "under my bed" is 4 feet tall, lol!

SillySusan

I used to volunteer at a thrift shop and soon became the "crafts lady." That was my biggest down-fall because I couldn't resist all those wonderful fabrics that came in... any lengths, any colors, and certainly without a quilt pattern in mind. The price for fabric at the thrift shop was $.50 a yard, so lots and lots of multiples of $.50 flew out of my pockets. Now I have tons of stash and.... Yes, I have made many quilts from the same fabrics and since almost all my quilts are donated, there is little or no chance that the duplicates will find each other!

Irishrose2

When I find a line I like, like Moda marble swirls or Northcutt Stonehenge, I buy it in all the colors - or at least I used to. I choose fabrics from my stash by color, not how often I've used it so it doesn't matter. I'm very low on the swirls, but they changed it several years ago, so uless I can find the older line, I don't care.

jmoore

Tamara, you are lucky to find sales and have a vision to coordinate fabrics for an unknown project. I have found that doesn’t work for me...In the past I had purchased FQ bundles, even yardage of fabric I loved but without a plan they sit neatly folded on a shelf. I didn’t prefer scrappy quilts when I first started this hobby but have come to enjoy making them and good thing...now that I have these neatly folded orphan fabrics.

AlvaStitcher

SillySusan, You used to volunteer in my dream volunteer job! I would love to be able to pick up fabric in thrift stores at $.50 per yard. I don’t know what the thrift stores around here do with donated fabric because I find very little of it.
I have a fairly good sized stash and most of the quilts I make come from the stash with maybe a purchase of 1 or 2 cordinating pieces. Just made Bonnie Hunter’s Good Fortune quilt entirely out of my stash. Most of her previous mysteries have been the same. I usually make scrap quilts for charity with occasional gifting to friends or family.