I had to go into my LQS today to get a 1/4 piecing foot, but it makes me so sad to go in there! So many beautiful fabrics, I love them and touch them...but I just CANNOT justify spending $17.99/m (~39") on something I can get online from the US for half the price or less, INCLUDING SHIPPING! The cheapest fabric I saw was $8/m, and that was at 50% off! I know cotton prices are rising...but that just means ours will rise even further. I hate to think where my hobby would go if I didn't have the option of buying online...

I think the next step is grow our own cotton and weave our own fabric!:) I'm sure it can be done. Where I live COTTON is "KING".:)

You'd have to do some road tripping down to the states. We complain all the time about taxes, prices of fabric, groceries, gasoline, etc., but sometimes I think we don't realize just how good we have it. When I read on here the prices some countries have or look at the pictures of fabric stores that only have one small shelf of quilting cottons, my heart just goes out to all of the quilters that don't have the selections and the prices that we do.

I don't know what is going to happen to quilt shops. I used to be a vendor at quilt shop merchant malls. Unless you were selling deeply discounted fabric from old collections, it was hard to make a profit. I had to sell new collections for $12 a yard JUST to make the booth rent, and cover my expenses. I hardly ever made a profit. Quilt shops have so many expenses - rent, taxes, employees, utilities. The costs of selling on line are much less. I do buy online but I don't want to lose quilt shops - that is where we take classes, can go to touch the fabric and see it in person. Quilt shop owners have taken a lot of risk to have a shop. Perhaps there is a balance between shopping on line and supporting local shops. I have an online shop on ETSY where I am LIQUIDATING my inventory from selling at shows. My prices are very low so I am competing with quilt shops too but I still don't want to lose them. I try to go to my local shop once a month and I always find the local quilt shops when I travel.

Well, see what you say is why I *want* to shop there. I do buy all of my notions and things there, where they are actually cheaper than anywhere else locally - spied a nice big cutting mat while I was there today, but have to wait until pay day lol. I would hate to see this shop go out of business, because it's the only REAL quilt shop in my area (I'd have to travel 2+ hours for another one). But the reality is that for quilting fabric, it's better for *my* pocket book to shop elsewhere. That's why I'm sad.

what is your website? sad too

I understand. Totally get it.
On etsy search in shops for pieceofmindquilts
I am just starting to load stouff though - I think there is only 9 items or so. I do more every day.

What state do you live in? I would love to go to a cotton farm when I travel.

As an Ontarian myself,I totaly agree with you're reluctance to buy fabric at the LQS. I buy alot from Fabricland, but the supply is limited. I would be lost as far as fabric goes if it wasn't for the net. I love love love etsy.com. I do feel bad for the business ownwers, but as deema said, my pocketbook is my first concern. I bought a kit from Texas, for a king size quilt that cost me 130.00 including shipping and duty. 130.00 here in Canada would buy me about a third of what I would need for that quilt. As far as exchange on the dollar goes, our dollar is pretty close if not par most of the time so it's even cheaper to buy online.

Here in Georgia you can not grow your on cotton. The dept of agriculture told me that it has been stoped because of the boll weevils could infest the larger crops. :-(