I have a wonderful local Thrift store. Men's shirts $1, jeans $3, etc. I've gotten great buys on new/virtually new sheets and pillowcases, tablecloths, fabric. I stay away from garage sales- sewing machines tend to follow me home. Check out Quiltville.com and Maryquilts.com for great inspirations. There's also a great Yahoo group called Heartstrings run by the lovely lady from Maryquilts which has directions for many string and strip pieced quilts. I was always afraid of plaids because they were never straight enough when I cut them. Now I seek them out. In a magazine I saw a Kaffe Fasset quilt made from mens striped shirts- loved it! With fabrics now pushing $14 I just can't afford them. I'm really liking the looks of scrappy, shabby chic, and eclectic quilts. Several years ago I was given many of my brother's jeans when his new wife decided to purge his clothes, and plan to make them into a quilt for Christmas, and maybe some stockings. My shelves and bins are full, but tonight I went to a $3 a bag sale at a local church and several new floral sheets came home with me. They'll be made into adult sized "pillowcase" dresses for donation to Little Dresses for Africa. The pattern is on their site and on Nancy's notions. I've decided I can rationalize using bookcases of fabric as insulation- right? I'm not a hoarder- just overly Thrifty.