butterflies5518

Hi, I too am in Houston and there are several quilt shops I routinely shop. Quilters Emporium (59 & Airport, south side of 59), Fabric Exctera (Bay Area Blvd, east side of 45 south), and Buttons & Bows (Memorial & Kirkwood). You will find many local quilt shops once you begin looking. Most offer many classes, quality fabric and notions. Welcome to the Quilt Board.

butterflies5518

I work directly in Galleria area and too live inside the loop (west side), you can contact me by pm and we can plan an quilt shop hop one weekend!

KathyKat

I buy more than 50% of my fabric from Hobby Lobby and like it very much. The rest I buy from local quilt shops or online quilt shops.

Bearpawquilter

Check retailmenot.com for discount codes for bigger online sites such as fabric.com. Connecting Threads offers free shipping for orders over $50 and they have good prices on popular quilting books. Alas, they no longer honor free shipping to Alaska where I am. Take a look at some quilting blogs. Some of my favorites are Oh, Fransson, Crazy Mom Quilts, Red Pepper Quilts, Hyacinth Quilts, Quilt Dad, Quilt Zombie, and many others. I have so many ideas bookmarked, I won't live long enough to make them all. Many free patterns, tutorials, tips and techniques. You will see many of the latest fabric lines being used and I trust the color of the fabrics more on the blogs. You have to be careful of the colors on some of the online fabric stores - they are not always the true colors. This is especially if you are trying to match colors. On some of the sites you can put your choices on an on screen design wall. I especially like the hand of the fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics - very smooth and silky. Even if I lived down in the "lower 48" as we Alaskans call it, I would not shop at Hobby Lobby because I do not agree with their politics. We have two quilt shops and one yarn store that also sells fabric where I live. I do shop in them but I do most of my shopping on line. Last time I was in a JoAnn store I got completely overwhelmed and left. I started out using mostly Walmart fabric until I felt I had gotten good enough to buy better quality fabric. Now I realize that was rubbish and I need to donate all that old junk out of my stash. Have fun on your quilting journey. N

momsbusy

I purchased some blue cotton fabric from Walmart once that turned my hands blue when I handled it. I will still occasionally purchase cheap fabric, but I am very picky about it.

Alondra

http://www.connectingthreads.com
http://www.quiltinaday.com (California)
http://www.eleanorburns.com (Paducah)
http://www.fatquartershop.com
http://www.greenfairyquilts.com

And before you read this, I'll probably have thought of a dozen more. <G>

Emma S

Fabric Shack is another good on line store. Just wanted to add my personal experience. For years I bought only from JoAnn's, this was pre-internet so there wasn't really a lot of other choices. Then I started ordering on line and frequently made quilts with fabric of varying quality in the same quilt, both good and okay. Your hands know the difference! Its a pleasure to handle the smooth, soft fabric and there is a reassurance that the better brands will hold up. I limit myself to a maximum price of $6 a yard but can still find many choices, just not current season. Thank you for asking the question, love to read about new quilters.

hautewife

Thank you all for your words of wisdom. I'm preparing myself for lots of trial and error. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist so bear with me as I attempt to making the learning process ans stressless as possible. After all, I am picking up this hobby for therapeutic reasons, lol.

The consensus seems to be I'll learn to recognize quality fabrics by their feel. Before I know it, I'll probably be something of a fabric snob, lol.

I'm going to work with what I already purchased from Hobby Lobby to practice my techniques. Looking at them now, I think I got a variety of qualities. I think that might be a good thing because it will allow me to evaluate how each of them holds up.

I like the idea of supporting local shops. I get off at 4:30pm so I may be able to catch a few shops during the week if traffic cooperates. I actually may be able to catch Quilter's Emporium during a lunch break. Otherwise, I will be limited to weekends.

I've registered with Fabshophop. It sounds like fun. I also will check out the local Quilting Guilds and Houston International Quilt Festival.

Thank you all again for your responses!

Lovequilting22

I didn't realize there was a quilt store in Tannersville, PA. I am only 25 mins from there. I will need to check that out. Thanks for the tip. I also love MSQC and I have purchased from them more often than anyone else, but I have also ordered from Connecting Threads and Old Country store online. I am a huge Zook's fan (Lancaster) and also Martin's Fabric Barn in Lebanon, PA. I also used to order from Joann's when I first started out, but the quality of that fabric compared with Moda or Kona, well, you can instantly see and feel the difference. I am a big Moda fabric girl! After all, they have a fabric called Dori! I had to get it. So the spelling is off, I can live with that! LOL