Quilters are not Quitters and you are a quilter. You don't need all the fancy stuff that will come in time, if needed. Try and find a local quilting group, they will keep you straight. Make local Charity shops your favourite haunts, you can always find good quality bed linen at good prices. It does not have to be 100% cotton for backing or kiddie-wink quilts, in fact the couple of charities I do them for prefer Poly-cotton because of the heavy laundering they can get. Remember a pair of ordinary pillowcase, when unpicked gives you 14 yards, yep 14 YARDS of binding.
The only thing you haven't mentioned is Thread. You do need to use proper thread but a huge spool of good quality Egyptian thread from Threadart.com will only cost you $5.75 + pp but at present it's on sale for &4.25! It will last you through quite a few quilts so choose a neutral color.
http://www.threadart.com/c-6-heavy-d...on-thread.aspx
The other great saver is to buy machine needles by the 100s
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORGAN-15X1-S...item19cd51d5d2 here you can get any size of "Organ" needles for $9.99 with FREE shipping, that is a good buy and it's false economy to try and make your needles last longer. Ask my poorly terminally sick sewing machine how I know
