I hear you with these ever increasing high prices. I myself have {2} local quilt shops that have back rooms of 50% off some of their fabrics, older and discontinued, I guess, but really nice stuff. So for $5.00 or less a yard, I build up my stash a little at a time. My JoAnn's batiks are $12.95 & up and to me, that's crazy! But when JoAnn's has 50% off their "red tag" sales, I can get a little of this and that {whatever is left on the bolt} of nice quilting fabric for $2.50 a yard. These days, we have to be creative to say the least!