Originally Posted by
thepolyparrot
I'm not on a budget, really - I try not to get too crazy, because what if I don't like making quilts five years from now. But, I confess that I am fanatical about tools and when I walk into a quilt shop, my eyes glaze over and I kind of go into a trance.
We're going to be retired in a few years and on a fixed income, so I try to build my stash "smart" - not many novelties, mostly classic, traditional prints in colors that aren't real trendy. Lots of blenders and neutrals for applique, lots of collections.
I do try to buy on sale and economize to some extent - I shop connectingthreads and fabric.com where the shipping is free, and I shop whittlesfabrics and a couple of my favorite eBay sellers - Quilt Unique and franks11 - where the prices are always so low that the small amount for shipping isn't a big deal.
It's funny you should say 'what if I don't like it in five years' because first of all, if you go to my quilting 'help' file on my computer, there is an article I copied from the Board posting into Word and the title is "the Polyparrot wrote..." and it is about your favorite hints and tricks and tips on piecing and quilting and choosing fabric. I hope you never lose your interest and enthusiasm for quilting!
Second of all, as much as I love quilting, I have been operating on the same principal to some extent, not making investments which would only pay off in the long run or in a larger scale operation, like an Accuquilt, a straight-stitch machine for machine quilting, etc etc. ...just in case I get tired of it.
Thanks for the tips on whittlesfabrics, Quilts Unique and Franks, I had not known about them.