When my nephew was born last August, I wanted his quilt to extra special, so I bought batiks at the LQS. When cutting the fabric and sewing it together, I came across some flaws in the fabric that disappointed my wallet terribly. Also, the lighter color fabrics I used for setting triangles were very, very thin and had to be super starched to get them to work for the purpose. The advantage of the LQS was the variety and ability to get what I wanted in one shopping trip. Most of the time I shop the chains to add to my stash, and when I have a project I can usually get most of the material from my stash, and maybe have to buy one or two pieces.