One of my favorite on-line quilt stores is Stitch-N-Frame in Mississippi. They discount everything 15%, will cut in 1/4 yards, and have wonderful Thursday specials every week. Another on-line place where prices are a little lower is Fabric Shack in Ohio. And I've found a good number of fabrics from JoAnn's and Hancock's (before they all closed here).

I buy what appeals to me. I look for good quality fabrics but I can find those at Hancocks, Joanns and my LQS. Quilting should be fun. Don't stress over where you buy your fabric, just keep buying and having fun. :-D

I dunno where you're at in NC, but I have found "good quality" at Wal Mart, Joanne's, and haven't gotten to the LQS which is about 35 miles from me in N Raleigh. The thing is with local stores, you do have to scrutinize the fabric a bit more. I haunt Fabric.com and haven't been disappointed with a piece yet!

I never gave it much thought till now, but why is polly/cotton suppose to be bad? I have always been taught 100% cotton only in quilts, and I just pitched a garbage bag FULL of polly/cotton blends away.So heres a question for you (because I dont know) if you use polly/cotton fabric, can you use cotton quilting thread? Keep in mind I am a hand quilter, and use cotton quilting thread.

Yes, you may find the same prints at Walmart but the LQS has probably purchased the print in a better quality fabric. Our Joanns isn't bad. Some Walmart fabric is really nice too. Our local Walmarts don't have fabric but if I find one that does and something appeals to me I buy it. I learned to stay away from their $1 a yd fabric unless it was marked down to that. The stuff they get in that's originally marked $1 is pretty much junk fabric.

ljsunflower what part of Mississippi are you from? I'm from Hattiesburg

buy what you like I buy from a variety of places and I just love it all. I have gone to thrift stores and bought mens shirts for 50 cents and now am doing a quilt. I bought enough shirts to make about 4 but I'll give them to someone that needs it

Joanns prices have gone up to the same as LQS with not near the selection of the quilt shop.
I shop online most of the time and get great bargains on sale.

i don't really understand all the fuss about polyester and blends in quilts. i made a choice a few years ago to stick to all-cotton, but not because i think poly is "wrong". i just found that cotton is easier to work with. since a wide variety of cotton is available online at prices i can afford (if you're willing to haunt the sale pages) i decided to switch.

it's said (by those who insist on all-cotton, of course :lol: ) that polyester fibres will cause cotton thread to break down sooner. sooner than what? in 500 years vs. 1000?

my guess is that polyester thread might not be as easy to use in hand quilting. i think you'd get more knots and gnarles. if you have some poly or blends left, try a small quilt and use your cotton quilting thread. if it performs well for you, then keep going. if you don't enjoy the experience, then stick with what does give you grins.

Some textile mills put out as high as three different thread counts of the same print!

Lower thread counts go to the discount stores.

I remember looking at flannel at Wal-mart on the $1.00/yd.
table and it looked and felt like printed cheese cloth. :shock:

Bottom line for me is to buy what I can afford but most of all what I like.

YES