I did not save or stash enough plains. I will have to go to thrift stores and really watch for sales.

Absolutely, would love to pay $3 a yard/metre, but living in Australia that's not an option which is why when I want to build up my stash I buy online from America. For regular purchases I do support my LQS.

Futures speculation is another problem in rising cotton prices. As to prices coming down... don't hold your breath while you're waiting... the way the Fed is printing money, our money will be worth less and less, and it's already virtually worthless. My feeling is that we are in for some really bad times in the future. Sorry to rain on your parade.

If you want an American car (or the closest thing possible), you'll have to get a Toyota (Georgetown, KY, Indiana, or San Antonio) or Subaru built in Indiana. All "American cars," though assembled here, are assembled with parts manufactured in foreign countries, like China, India, etc. There IS no such thing anymore as an "American car". At least Toyota's and Subaru's American plants also bring their suppliers here, giving Americans jobs and paying taxes, UNLIKE "American" manufacturers, who prefer to pay their taxes to China and other countries and employ their workers. The reason we don't see any of the benefits of those .50/hr. wages they pay in China is that the shipping charges eat them up, so we end up paying the same or more than when they were built by Americans in America.

the prices are going UP because we allow so much foreign trade! We could grow more of our cotton here, but we told China/Asia that as part of the word trade agreement, They could grow that commodity! WE no longer have ANY textile manufactures in this country!( The last one closed up 2 years ago) They are all in Asia!

As long as this country continues to allow other countries to control OUR goods, we will either have to pay or do without! This year as everything continues to skyrocket, but take home pay, there will be a whole lot less spending on the unessential items!

Doesn't surprise me, everthing else is going up!

I need to clarify that I did not see the earlier message that did bring politics into the discussion, and I agree entirely that it has no place here. Discussions of that nature tend to bring down the overall quality of our interactions because they polarize people. The purpose of a forum is to share what we have in common. There are plenty of other sites where political views are appropriately discussed. Bringing them into this kind of discussion would tend to drive people away because of issues that are not directly related to the topic of quilting.

Me, too.

How true that is :|

Ditto from me!!

I know...no COLA for us seniors but the minimum wage is going up for some states. It's almost now to where minimum wage is where the "rich" used to be!!!

Also, if we hadn't stopped growing cotton in the South (well only major companies are doing it now) and we still had regular cotton farmers, cotton could be "homegrown". Makes me furious!!

Nana- there is still cotton grown in the US.Probably not as much as we used to produce. The problem is we closed ALL our textile mills and sent them overseas. This started happening years ago and finally ended a year or two ago with the last of the mills closing. There are no longer Cannon sheets and towels made at mills in NC or fabrics milled anywhere in the U.S.! It all went over seas for cheaper production costs and now it is costing us in the long run. I'm not saying this as a political dig to either side but no cost of livingincrease is absurd as the price of everything around us goes up, and as someone mentioned earlier the size of the containers goes down. How can any politician in either party say the cost of living hasn't gone up? Maybe we need to be able to vote ob our own increases just as ALL the greedy politicians get to vote on their own payraises. OK - down off my soapbox, that is all.

I'm still finding great deals at JoAnn's and WalMart. Our LQS is having clearance sale to clear out for spring stock. I'm sure the new stock will be high, but I'm all about clearance sale prices.

I believe that Santee still prints in the US... and you can find a lot of Santee prints among the budget-friendly fabrics on the calico wall at JoAnns. So those of you who often shop there, maybe you can even feel a little better about some of those purchases!

I'm extremely lucky and I know it (raised up poor but OK financially now) and can pretty much choose to buy my fabrics and supplies at a LQS or at JoAnn or Hancock. However, I do quilts for a charity that continues to ask for more and more blankets, and it's hard to afford to buy all the fabric and batting and other supplies to produce the most quilts possible and needed. So I do tend to shop at JoAnn or Hancock to get the very most for my money so I can help out with making as many quilts as I possibly can for kids without worrying too much about the outlay (and I do shop with coupons!)

I also might add that a good friend of mine, a fabulously talented quilter, stopped shopping at our most prominent local quilt shop because of their incredibly unwelcoming attitude and indifference to their customers generally, and which is well known to locals as unpleasant place to shop because of these things. And if this particular shop goes out of business, then good riddance. She now shops pretty much exclusively at JoAnn and Hancock both of which have great service and sales in our city. So I don't think that every LQS ipso facto deserves loyalty or extra support just because they exist.

Also, is it JJ's post that is supposedly political? I went back and looked at it and couldn't see much that could be called political. ???

Dana

I didn't see any politics in the original post that people complained about. All she said was that things were going up and that the seniors didn't get any increase. I didn't see anything about any specific group. I don't think it was "politics" anymore than any of this is...

It was JJ's comment on page 1 about "odumdum" saying no COLA this year (a reference we believed to be about Obama) that concerned several of us. IMHO, comments ought to be nonpolitical and respectful. I, too, am retired, and naturally concerned about finances. But let's keep it fun and about quilting.

I am so grateful to be raised in America, where my freedom to speak up is expected. My mother grew up in Nuremberg Germany. She was told "KEEP your mouth shut or we'll take you too". The SS referred to the gas chambers. Where 3 of her uncles were taken in the middle of the night. So I feel quite differently when others don't feel others should have any opinion at all. My mom was incerdibly gifted in crewel, knitting, crocheting and she cooked delicious German food. I miss her terribly and she was very frugal. Had she learned to quilt she would have been a master. Of that I am so certain.
She Taught me to save and use what you have and to share. She had yarn like I have fabric, lots of it. She wouldn't be at all concerned with price hikes she would simply use what she had. If something was torn or got a hole in it she repaired it. I learned a lot from a mom that grew up in very difficult circumstances.
Chin up everyone share what you have and be grateful. And thanks for the heads up on the price hike! :D

Here's another " fixed income " quilter...Just received our GM notice about money for January..After losing around $200 a month last year to them we are losing another almost $70 starting now. There goes the quilting money, but do you think anyone in DC cares?? Not on your life.

Easier said than done anymore...Hard to not put the politics in when that's all you hear about.

"Mimi", actually you're the one who keeps dragging 'politics' into the discussion - as soon as someone starts talking about something else, you make sure to reference my post again....

as Alaska Sunshine said, she's glad she was raised in America where supposedly we are free to speak - but apparently it only applies to some, and only if you agree with certain folks, huh?

I don't respect "O", and as far as I know I can say that without fear of being tossed in jail ...
he did say no COLA this year, he did say there was no inflation, so how is what I said "political"?????????????

Okay, I take back my defense of JJs. I did see the word "odumdum" but (duh) didn't get the reference. Now I do. Gag.

Dana

I read that China is buying a lot of the cotton. Also cotton production has gone down and weather has played a part in growing cotton.

I have to agree with Rose_P. Then I believe that everyone should be frugal in shopping whether it is for material, food, etc. We must save for the future. We must also write to our senators and representatives to let them know what we are feeling and what we disagree with. We must remind them that they work for us and not the lobbyist. All you need to do is google their names and you can email them.
Remember many of our ancestors were suvivors of the Great Depression and we can get through this. Quiltors are strong!

There is a big difference between saying you don't respect someone and using insulting language - that is what made it political to me. I didn't, and still don't, respect Bush, but I would never use such demeaning language to refer to him on this board.

Thank you, Akrogirl. My sentiments exactly. There is a place for political opinions but on a quilters' forum? And referring to our president in such insulting terms? I also didn't care for Bush's policies but it wouldn't have occurred to me for a second to discuss them here,nor to refer to him by a nasty name.

Dana

Thank you Dana and Ackrogirl. You are so right! There are other forums for political debate...just not here. It's not about not having opinions, it's about finding the correct venue to air one's views. This is a quilting board and we ought to strive to keep religion and politics out of the mix. Name calling is not respectful or polite, and the first rule of this board says "please be polite" (see "Help" at the top of page.) So maybe now we can all finally move on to another thread!!! There are so many interesting quilting topics to talk about!

As my teachers always said, 'There is a time and place for everything.' It is not an infringement on anyone's free speech rights to discourage insulting language in a quilting forum, any more than your local paper is obligated to print every ugly thing that people might write the editor. We are all free to tell our elected officials exactly what we think of them, but most of us wisely avoid getting into heated political discussions with our neighbors with whom we'd prefer to live peaceably, and most of us try to teach our children not to call insulting names.

Anyway, by its very nature, a brief encounter with strangers in a forum is not likely to provide a thorough examination of the very complex topic of inflation. If it was, it would have been fixed long ago. Brilliant economists haven't figured it out yet. They do know that it didn't just happen overnight, and it also didn't just happen in the last two years, nor will it be solved by flinging insults, despite the deplorable examples on TV.

Our best hope is to conserve our resources and pull together as a society. We need to focus on what we have in common and learn from each other. It seems to me that intelligent and respectful examination of political issues should not be ruled out. It is just too easy to fall into patterns that are hurtful and divisive. For many of us, the smear campaign that characterizes every election these days has become the only way of confronting issues. Surely we can do better.

I just recently found a greatLQS here that sells fabric for abit less than the other ones here. Actually, I found 2, but one of them has awful fabric. I dont mean that in a disrespectful way, but.....she has all these ADORABLE 30s prints, SUPER CUTE, ThEN, when you pick them up, they are AWFUL quality, very see through, and I can see why they are cheap. I REALLY wanted some of the cute prints, but NO WAY would they last, and almost every fabric in the store was like that? All fabric there was about 6.00 a yard.
Then I found a lady in the country who has all the name brands like Moda, ect for about a dollar less than the others. I have been going there!

LOL Sounds like she has been buying those ginghams from Wal-Mart. I think every store with fabric has some, in the $1.50 section, they can almost be seen through laying on the bolt.

Well said, Rose P!

Thank you, Rose_P. I'm still trying to somehow erase the word "odumdum" out of my head.

Dana

I too am a retired person, I have learned to save a little bit each month, that affords me over a 2 or 3 month time, to purchase more fabric or whatever I may need. I found a few shops online that have reasonable fabric, and over the last 2 years, I have been buying fabric, that would suit the person who's quilt I have pending. I have enough fabric right now to do 3 quilts, so I can't complain. I have enough to keep me busy, and will just have to go with the flow