Another ditto from me, for what Cari said!

The ONLY fabric that I treat as extra special are fabrics that have come from the clothing of deceased family members. Those fabrics are priceless to me, and utterly irreplaceable, so I am very careful with those.

But everything else is equal in my eyes, whether I bought it full price at a LQS or picked it up off of the free table at a guild meeting. I do horde some fabrics for myself, but that has more to do with the print, the color, or where I bought it (souvenir from a special trip) than anything else.

When I buy fabric, it is usually just for stash. I see what colors I need and look for them to fill in any holes. So, when I decide on a quilt, then anything goes if it's on the shelf. I do not like cheap feeling fabric, so I would say that there is very little of that regardless of where I bought it or what I paid for it. All of my quilt are made to be used - I honestly don't give a flip if they are still around 20 years from now or not.

I only use fabric that I determine to be good quality. My fabric comes from quilt shops, friends stashes, yard sales of former quilters, and the sale tables at my quilt guilds. Rarely, I will go to JoAnn's. I treat all of my quilts as special. If they have a lot of embroidery or they are art quilts, I will only display them on walls. My charity quilts are as good as the ones that I use in my house.

I buy fabric where ever I see something that catches my attention. Can be online or quilt shops. I am also blessed with having a great friend who always down sizes and will give me what she calls scraps and I call treasures. Denise

I buy where I can get the best sales. I sell most of what I make, so I need to make sure I can keep the cost down. Normally I make lap or throw size (very, very difficult to recoup costs with a larger quilt) and I keep the patterns down to a simpler block. I 'try out' more complex or new blocks on table runners, tote bags or wall hangings. That way they are not taking an outrageous amount of time. The only time I am 'particular' about the fabric is when I am making a quilt as a gift. But, it is not so much the cost as I look for that particular fabric that grabs me and will mean something for the person. This is often the only time I buy at a LQS. I can usually find my focus fabric there and only buy that amount. Unfortunately, LQS's are just too expensive. Often their fabric is available from an online store and even with shipping, it is cheaper.

I used to buy from Connecting Threads mostly and occasionally from Hancock of Paducah when they had a good sale. Lately I've been hitting the fabric stores in my area to help keep them from closing up on us. At the moment I have way too much fabric so have put a "STOP" on myself until I use some of it up. I'm at the point I have no where to stash it so that's a good sign I need to use it or lose it.

I buy fabric wherever I find it and like it. I often see fabric at Walmart that I saw at Joann's. Sometimes I find good stuff at thrift stores and yard sales. I order on-line. So I guess my answer is anywhere and everywhere.

I try to use "good" fabric for whatever I make. However, there are some fabrics that I do consider to be "more special" than others -

However, "good" and "expensive" are not necessarily synonymous when I look at the fabrics I have.

Some of the fabrics that I paid compratively little for as as nice or nicer than some of the LQS fabrics available now.

However - most of my fabric purchases are from over ten years ago, so I mostly shop my stash now. When I was buying, I hit almost every place that sold fabric from about a 50 mile radius of my home.

As a side note - some thin/sheer cotton batiste (that is tightly woven) - I paid over $12.00 a yard for about 16 years ago.

So when people say "thin" - in my mind, that may or may not be something like surgical gauze.

A question to add to your questions:

For those that sell things - If a fabric has been marked down - do you consider the "original" price or the price you actually paid for it when you are pricing your merchandise?

I think it is reasonable to consider "replacement value" for imaterials used when pricing things.

I just pur based some beautiful precuts from Tuesday Morning. Original price was about $22 and the Tuesday Morning price was $6.99!

I have a large stash and rarely finish a project. Is there a special word used to identify such a "quilter"? I prefer not to be called a fabricholic or hoarder of fabric, but am sure there are others like me and wonder if already is a different term used to identify us. If not, any suggestions?

Mostly online and LQS, joanns. Ocassionally hobby lobby. Walmart for practice samples