My mother made quilts in the 1950s and 1960s from whatever she could get her hands on. Old jeans, coats, flour sacks--anything that was woven and not being used for something else--went into her quilt tops. She got many of those items from thrift shops. Wal-Mart's fabric department would have been "walking in tall cotton" for her. None of her quilts would have won a prize in a quilt show, but they kept her 11 kids warm at night. Those quilts are still used by her children, grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren.