Is it normal to feel this nervous about my quilt going to a museum show?

I've had pieces in a few juried shows and museum exhibits over the years, so I can help with both of these. First, the sleeve: regular cotton from your stash is absolutely fine. Museums and quilt shows hang quilts on rods or slats, and the weight is distributed across the whole width of the sleeve, so there's not a lot of stress on any one spot. What matters more than fabric weight is construction. Make the sleeve at least 4 inches deep so the rod slides in easily without straining the fabric, cut it a little shorter than the finished width of the quilt, and hem the ends so they're finished even though nobody will see them. Stitch the sleeve down through the back of the quilt before you sew the binding's hanging edge closed if you can, or at least catch it in the binding and add a few hand stitches along the bottom edge of the sleeve. A lot of us double the fabric or use two layers for peace of mind, but honestly a well-stitched single layer of good quilting cotton has never failed me. Also check thier entry info, some venues want the sleeve set back about an inch from the top so the rod doesn't peek over the edge.

On the declared value, this trips everyone up the first time. What shows and insurers generaly want is replacement value, meaning what it would cost to have a quilt of comparable quality made today, not what you'd actually sell it for. So materials, plus hours at a fair hourly rate for the construction and quilting. Some people just do materials plus a flat amount for labor to keep the number modest. Write down how you arrived at the number and keep your fabric receipts, because if anything happens you'll need to justify it. Ask the museum if they have a form or a standard method for this, most do, and some venues carry their own wall-to-wall coverage once the quilt arrives. Do the value honestly but don't inflate it, since over-declaring can cause its own headaches. Either way, photograph the quilt thoroughly before it leaves the house, front, back, and close-ups of any detail work, dated if posible. That documentation matters more than the exact number if you ever have to file a claim.

Congrats is all I keep thinking reading this, I haven't worked up the nerve to enter anything yet. I once made a quilt for our guild raffle and even that made me nervous handing it to a stranger, so a whole museum is a different level. One thing I'd want to know before mine shipped anywhere, how do you all pack them for the trip? Folded in a plastic bin, rolled, padded envelope? I'd be terrified of it arriving with a crease or worse.

Gotta push back on the single layer of stash cotton advice. Every quilt I've lent to a show that stayed up longer than a few weeks developed a sag in the sleeve where the middle stretched, and one of them tore right at the stitching line near the end. Cotton acts fine for a weekend but months of constant pull is a diferent animal. I doubled the fabric after that and never had a problem since. It costs nothing, you allready own the fabric, so why gamble on the one thing holding the whole quilt up. Curators also tend to be pickier about sleeves than show volunteers, might be worth asking them what they prefer.

Before you stitch anything, ask the museum what diameter rod or slat their hanging system uses, because the sleeve depth should be sized to that. I once made a sleeve to my standard dimensions and then found out their rods were thicker than usual, wich meant the quilt stood away from the wall at the top and never sat flat. A quick email to whoever handles their collections saved me a redo. I'd also ask wheather they want the sleeve centered or set lower, since some venues hang with a two-rod system and the placement matters there.