I've never bought a kit. I go through my stash, choose the fabrics I want to work on......then peruse my quilt magazines for a pattern that catches my eye to go with the chosen fabrics. I'm usually happy and pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I've bought kits early on when I first started out. It can be a great way to end up with a quilt that you like as designing one on your own sometimes results in a surprise which can be good or bad. You might run out of fabric if you're doing the planning yourself and often times colors and designs can be less than you hoped they would be "in your head."
If you find one you love, check the price and see if it is worthwhile to you. If you don't have a stash yet or you aren't near quilt shops or fabric stores that carry great fabric, a kit can be a good buy to save you time and trouble searching out the fabric you want. Now that I have a pretty good stash and several UFOs, I seldom buy a kit. It can be great for a beginner though, in my opinion.
Brenda

Obviously lots of people do buy kits; they seem to be great money makers for the people who sell them. I don't buy them because I would not be making MY quilt, I would be making someone else's quilt. That's the same reason I wouldn't paint a"paint by numbers" picture, or frame a puzzle. If you want to own someone else's quilt, why not just buy the quilt someone else made?

both, some quilts are beautiful with colors already picked out, if you like it that way, why spend hours trying to figure out colors is my sentiment. I buy lots of kits, especially if they involve a lot of small appliques pieces that require a lot of scraps and can get pricey shopping for. I do shop for my own fabrics for certain patters especially if I don't like their colors on the pattern. I think it varies among quilters, some like to have a unique look, some like to replicate the color scheme because they like the look

I had never bought a kit before I purchased the pattern for Judy Neyemeyer's Hawaiian Star for my niece. When she saw it, my niece wanted it in the same colors as the box. After shopping for weeks and not being satisfied with the color choices, I ordered a kit. Unfortunately, they substituted some fabrics too, but it was close enough that only I noticed the difference. My niece and unquilting sisters thought it was identical.

I love to buy kits.....have done so all my quilting life. I like the fact that the fabric is picked out for me as I'm not super good at putting a bunch of colors and fabric patterns together and I really don't want to either run out or end up with a bunch of fabric. I have never run short of any fabric, but if I did, I would definitely contact the seller. I do think if you wait too long to make up the kit, this could be a problem, but..."knock on wood"....so far, so good....:)

I am in the "do it yourself" category. No kits cause I don't want a cookie cutter quilt. I want it to be all mine. Don't buy patterns either; at $9 or so apiece, I can't imagine how many they sell when there are zillions of wonderful patterns available online.

I seldom buy kits because I seldom make any pattern as written. That's not to say that I haven't bought any. I think the first kit I bought was a magnolia table topper/wall hanging. My mom loved magnolias and I made the wall hanging for her -- then I sought out fabric and made similar ones for my aunt and SILs. Later, I bought a kit to make a baby quilt with a little bit of applique. I bought it because of the simple applique and the shabby chic colors -- I have trouble with those -- I tend to pick bright colors. Finally I had a kit made from a shop sample simply because both my husband and i fell in love with the quilt. Both of these kits are still in their bags and on my list of PIGs (project in grocery sack) to do if and when I knock some of my UFOs off my list.

I don't mind others picking my fabric either, they are so much better at it than I am!!!

The only kits I have were purchased through Craigslist postings. One is a Fons and Porter (Stars & Stripes Sampler with backing included) and an Atkinson star quilt done in batiks. Working on the sampler first. For the most part, I do cut and kit my own projects. I like cutting ahead so I have projects when I just want to sew.