I remember the first quilt I made using only quilt shop fabrics. The stress of making the first cuts was terrible! I stood downstairs at my cutting area literally sweating those first cuts. Now that I'm more experienced, I'm not so nervous, but I still don't like cutting from a kit. If I make a mistake, there isn't enough fabric to fix it, and the fabric lines are likely long gone from my LQS. I prefer to purchase the yardage in my color choices and make the quilt 'my own'.
For basting, I lay out my quilt top, batting and back, aligning the marked centers, pin along the middle and then fold back the layers to spray baste, one side at a time, then remove the pins and do the other half. It works especially well on a folding banquet style table.