I'm not saying that we are doing horrible- But , it has been hard. My husband was laid off for 13 months, and we are trying to help our kids with their student loans etc--yadda yadda- yadda- so I'm looking at all of the threads about 1. stashes 2. yard sales. I think I'm going to start really really thinking about seeing how much fabric- cheap fabric- i can obtain from yard sales. I mean- you can have a lota lota fun for a little little bit o money! And someone with my tastes- the yard sale circut is perfect because I like the retro- but not quite vintage stuff--perfect! and as i said in another post- u start with the stash- and then you go to the LQS and add to it if you need to. only thing about that is- i know we should support our local businesses- but- you know what- what if we cant afford to?

I get my fabrics where I can. Some on line, some at LQS and some given me. The fun is in the hunt and then creating a quilt. :)

dont forget your local thrift shops. I find tons of stuff cheap there

If you can't afford it, don't feel guilty! I went in the thrift store here a few months ago and found a whole rack of plaid flannel shirts that screamed QUILT at me. I was good and left without them, but... now I keep getting the urge to sneak up behind this guy at work with my scissors! LOL! You make the best of what you have and enjoy it!

yea- i am too impatient for estate sales which i think are probably a good place to look- but i really want to start looking at the yard sales. I had to work this friday but next week???

Dont forget that you can always cut up clothing to get good yardage, and I find that most yard sales have clothing really really cheap...........

My mother used to cut up little girls dresses because they always had the cutest patterns. Put the word out among your friends that you're looking for old clothing and old sheets. If your WalMart has fabric on the bolt, check out their $1.00 and $2.00 a yard bin. Look in the remnant bin at both WalMart and Joann's.

Check out FreeCycle, never can tell what will come up there.
And if you have something to give, you can ask for any extra fabrics anyone might be getting rid of. Moving, divorce, cleaning out parents' homes, etc, lots of folks just want rid of it and don't want to throw it out.

I know what you mean about not being able to afford the LQS fabric's. I stay away from ours. I shop Goodwill and other thrift shops, I hit yard sales and the Walmart clearance on fabric. No shame in being frugal in tough times.

sadly i just can't afford to support my LQS and neither can most people in my area.

when i first started quilting 9 years ago there were 5 LQS in my area along with 2 joann's and 1 walmart.

back then the LQS charged $8 a yard for fabric and $10 for batiks and joann's was the only reasonable place in town.

fast forward to today and there is only 1 LQS and 1 joann's and walmart never stopped selling fabric in my area.

walmart is very reasonable in prices, joann's is mixed in pricing some high some low, and the LQS is insane - they sell typical quilter cotton for $12.99 and batiks $16.99.

when i first started 9 years ago i didn't know how to hand dye or screen print but i taught myself very quickly because who can quilt for fun or business at those prices.

what is really sad about our LQS is when the prices started going up they shut down the quilt shop for a day to raise the prices on everything in the store not just the new bolts.

some fabric has been sitting on the shelves for 6 years but they decided to up the price to today high prices.

they have lost many customers over it - it was a huge discussion at our guild and the guild decided to never invite them back to our meeting for demo's or to sell product because of it.