I was in JoAnns in Indianapolis yesterday; and the quilting notions were 50% off. Yes I purchased a couple templates that I have been wanting but not on full price. Just thought you should know. Teresa

A beautiful big new JoAnns just opened in Oklahoma City. They do have a lot of stuff besides quilting but I'm quite impressed with the store & their fabric selection. And it seems their prices are pretty reasonable, too. I shopped there yesterday & found just what I was looking for. This store is a great improvement from their old location here. The sales are quite good this week.

Our new Joann's opens Friday. I am quite excited and hopeful that I will find something there that appeals to me and is good enough quality. I don't make heirloom quilts and mainly quilt for my own pleasure. I've gotten some nice yardage and fat quarters in the Joann's I go to in Puyallup and in Atlanta. I do have to touch and feel all the things I'm interested in. Some are too thin, some have too much sizing, or feel stiff to me. But, it is another option in town.

This isn't in Oklahoma, it's in Sherman, TX. I live about 3 miles from the Red River and do most of my shopping in Denison and Sherman. I worked in Sherman for years. There is a LQS in Durant, OK, but it's 20 miles away and I don't go there very often. Texas is closer and they don't tax food, so I do my grocery shopping there.

That's about what they had here. And the solids were not impressive at all and they didn't have a print in the color that I needed, so I didn't really inspect them closely. I ended up buying a light green print in the 45" size, so it will have a seam in the middle...no biggie, but it's better fabric than the wide backings. I came close to ordering one online at Thousands of Bolts, but I don't trust the computer screen to match the greens.

We have a new Joanns and they have lots of all kinds of fabrics. I was disappointed that they sell such small spools of gutterman thread, doubt there would be close to enough to quilt a quilt with, very expensive too. Prices seem very high for about all sewing notions, guess they need to raise prices so their coupons look like you are saving money.

Our JoAnns had more after the move - TWO bolts of each of the same eight or so fabrics. You could read the newspaper behind some of them.

I buy backing online from Christian Lane Quilters, Eleanor Burns or Hancocks of Paducah on sale. White or natural muslin can be bought in large yardages from Hancocks of Paducah or Marshall Dry Goods (online).

My most recent visit to Joanns revealed the prices were much higher, and the sales not as good. A 40% coupon on one item doesn't help much when you are buying 1/2 yard pieces. AND the 15% coupon off your entire craft purchase excluded fabric.

I haven't been to Joann in a few years. Their fabric is substandard, not quite as bad as Walmart, but bad enough. I think my time spent making a quilt is worth more than that.

Besides, the closest Joann to me is an hour away. I'm lucky enough to work at an LQS only 3 miles from my house! My boss can order anything I want and I get the employee discount.

All that being said, I rarely buy quilt backs. I find that even quilt shop quality backs are thinner than other fabrics. And, I often piece my backs so that they are more interesting, using leftover blocks and fabric from the front.

Found some great prices when the closest JoAnns moved to the mall. As the prices go down, so does the selection. I did score some great decorating fabrics the last day at 90% off. No quilting fabric left by then though.

That is good news. Just remember thre will be more crafts and flowers in the bigger store, not necessarily more fabrics. Joann's has considerably less fabrics than they used to have even with the bigger stores!