Jill, there are lots of excellent quilt shops online. It just depends on whose stock and customer service you like best. My all-time favourite is equilter.com. Their customer service rocks. And if I'm looking for something specific I always check at
http://www.quiltshops.com because their search engine is great.
Like you, I haven't got a good quilt shop close by. The nearest excellent one is about 85 miles South of here. Not the sort of trip you take every week or so, especially with petrol prices having reached over £1.20 a litre.
Lorchen