I mainly buy fqs, love them. I buy bigger pieces for backgrounds & backing. You have to decide what kind of quilts you mostly like to make. I don't like two or three color quilts, I like lots of colors or prints, in my quilts, & I mostly only need a little bit at a time, so this works for me. This way I get buy more different fabrics too, just a little bit of this, & a little bit of that. I watch for them on sale too, & buy them that way when I can. Doesn't seem like so much, money wise either, when you just buy a few at a time...