I am retired and I watch for sales on line and in the local area. One favorite quilt shop is closing and final sales are 75% percent off. Although I have a large stash, I have spent several dollars stocking up some more. Probably have enough to sew for 30 some years! I save until something special catches my eye.

It is all what appeals to our own eyes. When there is a will, there is a way. What is meant to be, will be. Someone special will appreciate your quilting work that you do....the fabric may not appeal to you and yet will catch someone's eye and they will think its special. Enjoy retirement; after 12 years, we are totally enjoying ours and staying at home most of the time. That saves money!:o

If you have an IKEA near you check out the duvet covers. They are 100 percent cotton. I have used them as backings but they can be used for piecing. I cut them apart and have had good success.

Ollie's will periodically get good quality sheet sets for the price of many single sheets from Wally World. I get the set, use the flat one then take the elastic out of the fitted one. The fitted can be used for a single size or pieced with another for a larger backing. Pillow slips in the set? Either donate them or add a band of your quilt fabrics to coordinate with the quilt. I sometimes work with a group making charity quilts. Those always make my projects economical.

I've accumulated quite a bit of fabric participating in the Fabshophop. Several times a year I win at least a $10 gift certificate. Last month I won a $10 gift certificate from a store that had $12.00 a yard Summer Breeze IV fabric on sale for $3.50 a yard . I bought 3 yards and it cost me 50 cents. ($36.00 value). Twice this year I also won $25.00 worth of neutral fabrics. Plus it's fun and easy to look for the bunny while checking out new products and fabric lines.

I would say join a guild. At my guild we have a free table. There are so many magazines, books, and scrap bags that most of it gets donated to Salvation Army because the table stays full. Lot of members bring show and tell items and say this was made from the scraps I got off the free table. The guild is very large and some are no budget quilters, some are frugal, some really need the scrap bags to help, and some are just plain cheap.

I agree with NZ, quilting is only as expensive as you let it be. I find lots of sales at Joann's and found fabric on eBay.
Recently finished my first grand baby's quilt and thought of having it quilted and sent out, however, I took a leap of faith and quilted it myself and was quite pleased. Some have found old shirts, etc. to turn into scraps for quilting which is great too.

I save money by not having a "stash". I have found that the colors that I have on hand usually do not match newer fabric colors. Guaranteed that the green that I have will not go with the fabric I buy for a new quit! There for I buy all the fabric to make a quilt pattern! Can seem expensive all at once but I do not have "extra" fabric setting around.

Also shop hobby Lobby is there is pone by you. Nice fabric always on sale at 30% off.

the fabric in the bed skirts i have seen seems to be more loosely woven than " regular" quilting cotton.

Remember Michael's has a Senior's Discount (10% for over 55) every day.

Better still, are their coupons that they email out to you quite frequently.
Upwards to 55% ... today's good for the wkd is 50% off.

Yes ... even in Canada!

Words from a fabric addicted woman...

I mostly bought fabric that was on sale and I have been quilting seriously, on and off, since the late 70's. Even in my down years of not quilting very much, I still bought fabric. I would always tell my husband, when he would complain about my ever-growing fabric pile/stash, that when I retired I would have my own store of fabric to choose from.

I am now retired and fabric is priced pretty much out of my budget, I do have my own store of fabric and supplies that I can shop in for free. I have always shopped the sales and used coupons to get things at a better price. That means that I have a stash of sewing needles, cutting blades, rulers, thread (as long as it doesn't rot), books, patterns and pretty much whatever else I need to keep me quilting for years to come. My biggest problem will be to say, "NO!" to myself when I am tempted to purchase more stuff. The way I see it is that it will be a challenge for me to go through all of my stuff before I die. Of course, I will need to buy incidentals along the way, like a blending fabric or batting, but that shouldn't be too much for my budget, especially if when I need it I can wait to buy it on sale.

The matter of having fabric that I can only say to myself when I see it is, "What the heck was I thinking?", these will be cut up and put into a scrap quilt. Like several people have said, "if it is cut small enough, you won't even see it," which is very, very true. Fortunately, I love scrap quilts and would rather do something that has random colors in the quilt than a set of the same colors to be used over and over. Others will be used in some craft like pincushions, or cut up to be used as binding or if it isn't too bad it will be used as a backing. Remember, most all quilts need some ugly sister fabrics so that the pretty fabrics look even prettier.

Well, that my story and I'm sticking to it...