Need an excuse to buy more fabric?

Do you need an excuse to buy more cotton fabric?  Word is out that the price of cotton will be increasing.  This affects apparel manufacturers and sellers as well as we quilters.  The price of raw cotton will hit a new 15 year high. 

The various reasons are severe weather conditions in China and the recession which has resulted in a decrease in demand.  This decrease in demand has led farmers to switch to alternate crops which will lead to a cotton shortage.

I have read that quilting cotton may hit upwards of $12/yd and one supplier of cotton yardage for dyeing is going to raise their prices by 40%.

What's a quilter to do?  The first option is to try and use up some of our bulging stashes.  Do you have projects on your to do list?  It is pretty hard to predict the fabric colors  that we will need for our quilts down the road.  But we will always need batting.

Let's go shopping!