i would love to be loyal to my local quilt shop, but they are not loyal to our neighbors... their prices are nowhere near what i can get online with a hundred times more selection, and their classes are not well organized nor competitively priced. a few weeks ago, one of the teachers was told, 'talk it up'... when asking how many people had registered for her class...the sample quilt was up, but there was no sign, no schedule, and no advertising of ANY TYPE in the store... people had to know to ask and that meant the teacher had to do it... they do NOT give a discount during breaks of the class (something I found to be almost universal in other shops) and they stock between 100 -- 150 bolts of fabric....I have more than that in my stash, so why should I pay more for fabric I can get online, on sale, from several different sources, any time of the day or night?
here are my faves:
http://www.fabric.com/Index.aspx always check out clearance and '$1.95' sections
http://www.marshalldrygoods.com/ best selection AND prices for extra wide 90--108" backings, solids, prints, batiks, tiedies.... approx $8.00/yd
http://www.missouriquiltco.com/ great for precuts (not me, but you might like them), good prices and great tutorials, many available....they demo lots of their special rulers/tools during these, but you don't need most of them unless you want them....great sales periodically
http://www.equilter.com/cgi-bin/webc...quilt%20fabric
http://sewtrue.com/ best prices i have found for thread and notions, in general....however....
http://www.thequiltedrose.com/ best ever selection of thread and great prices....
if anyone else has stores to add to this list, please put them in...i love to find new outlets...