I do my own on a Singer 301 with a 7" harp. I do mostly meandering with some flowers or shapes thrown in. I let the quilt speak for itself and don't worry about custom quilting. Why don't I learn to do feathers and such? Because I am a perfectionist and I'd drive myself crazy over little deviations from what I was expecting.

Fabrics that no longer appeal to me often appeal to others, so they are donated to the two guilds I belong to. I am always pleasantly surprised by the quilts that other people make with those fabrics. Most of those quilts go to local children's charities, so all is good.

However, I must say that I quilt as an excuse to buy fabric, so have an extensive stash. There is just something so appealing to me about fabric...and I have no idea why. I guess it's the hidden potential in each piece of fabric.

My fabric gets used for quilts, backings, pillow cases and charity quilts. Currently making "gender neutral" pack and play mattresses for a local charity that provides clothes, school supplies, shoes, quilts and other stuff to children in foster care.

I agree w/ the above posts and do nearly everything already mentioned. Something that wasn't mentioned yet is the cost of paying to have a quilt quilted. Learn to quilt as you go, there are many different techniques for all kinds of qayg, many you can't even tell (not the typical square w/ small sashing). A good way to save money quilting your own on your same simple domestic machine.

I have yet to try QAYG, but it is on my to-do list. You are great at it, Kass, and never stop amazing me with it! I do quilt all my quilts on my home sewing machine though. I could never afford to pay for them to be long-armed! Last year I "upgraded" to a 1950's Singer sewing machine with a larger throat space and that has helped me when quilting queen size quilts in one piece.

I am amazed at those of you who use a domestic to quilt your quilts in one piece!

I've always quilted my own quilts. I have quilted queen sized quilts on my vintage Brother VX560 with a 7 inch throat and also on the PC420 with the same size throat. I found a used PQ1500s several years ago with a 9" throat and have done lots of fmq on it including what would be considered custom quilting. After saving for a number of years and keeping an eye on Craigs list ant Ebay I finally found a used HQ Sweet Sixteen that was in my budget. But, I'm one of those folks who love the quilting way more than the piecing.

I have a stash of some purchased and some gifted fabrics and am on the fabric moratorium to help me not go hog wild on buying new. Most of my fabrics are very odd things that have been gifted from a retired photographer and/or came from my grandmother's house. As a result, I've gotten into doing art quilts and collages. The odd fabrics really challenge me and I enjoy that.

As for my quilting cottons, I save every little scrap and make scrap quilts, crumb squares, string quilts, etc.. That saves me a lot of money. My stash is not small, but it's not terribly large either, somewhere in the range of 400-500 yards counting the odd fabrics (silk ties, home dec linens, velvets, etc.). I try to only buy fabric when I'm out of something that I use a lot of like neutrals, various whites and black, otherwise, I shop my stash and have a lot of fun trying out new combinations. When I do need to replenish something, I look for sale prices, or check out the remnant bins at the LQS, etc.

You can spend a lot, or a little and it really depends on what you want to do with it, what kinds of quilts you like to make and whether or not you're willing to quilt them yourself.

Rob

Wal-mart sells flat sheets by themselves also.

Have a Swap/Trade party. Invite your quilty friends to come with their "out of favor cuts". AND see if you can swap.
Piece your backs. Make a few extra blocks and use them down the center or offset in the backing.
Frequent the Salvation Army,other thrift stores, estate and garage sales. THEY are FULL of good fabric. Goodwill is the only one Ive never found good useable fabric in. And Goodwill has become pricy as well. Salvation Army and Estate sales are your best solutions.
I'm retired and my budget has shrunk big time. BUT I still never use sheets for backing as it has a different weave count. I know many rave about them but I've never found them to be really the best choice.
ASK FOR GIFT CERTICATES to your favorite quilt shops for gift giving times.
I shop sales online too. BUT swapping with friends is really a great way to get some fresh stuff in your home.

I do most of the things already mentioned: Thrift stores, sales, do my own quilting on my domestic machine, etc. I wanted to mention that when shopping thrift stores, look for the plus sizes in shirts, skirts, etc. as you get more fabric in each item. In thrift stores, Scrubs are a great source of high quality cotton and some really varied prints from children's to art types. The solid scrubs are great too. You can get a lot of fabric from the larger sized pants too, especially those with only the inside seam.
I use pillowcases for piecing as well as sashing, etc. King size pillowcases have a lot of fabric! Often I find a pair of pillowcases at thrift stores for 99 cents on half price day. And I find good lightly used cotton sheets, as well as the bed skirts others have mentioned.
I don't mind having smaller pieces of fabric such as from deconstructed clothing as I love making scrappy quilts, and it's a great way to get a lot of variety at low cost.

I plan to retire in about a year, and have determined that I will not buy any more fabric until I use what I have. I should run out of fabric in about 10-12 years, lol. Seriously, I have given away hundreds of yards of fabric, and I still have two rooms overflowing with fabric, patterns, rulers, books, notions, bolts of fabric (that I bought on clearance). I will have enough to keep me busy for many years.