I'm from Alabama, 62 yo, & my grandmothers both used muslin, feed sacks, whatever in quilts, as well as the clothes they made us when I was real small. Once my Dad got a Government Job, we moved out of the Country & our economic situation got better.
Eddie there are reasons people use different fabrics, colors, prints, solids. I've found fabric has different weights & if blindfolded I bet I could tell by feel which is Quilt Store quality. I've read several other quilters on the Board talk about the "feel" of their fabric. Take the feel test for yourself. Ask Melissa to take different fabrics, blindfold you & see if you can tell the difference. My fabric also "talks" to me. I know if I've made a mistake just by the sound of the machine, or if hand quilting how my needle is positioned (when it comes out the back side).
I tried tea dying muslin last summer, before my surgery, so plan to do more of that. It gives more of a Country look. I was using unbleached muslin, which showed up impurities in streaking, so will get bleached muslin for my upcoming quilts. Now that my grandchildren are teens, maybe they won't drag them outside.