I'm a newbie quilter but we have experienced the same type of thing with the lumber and furniture my husband makes. He has a sawmill. He either cuts and hauls the logs or buys them, then he makes lumber. From that he makes some great pieces. People want to pay WalMart prices. We stopped doing custom orders except for the lumber- no more custom furniture. It was a mess and took all the fun out of designing and making a piece.