Quilt Kit -- Is That Cheating?

DS said "WHY didn't you tell me about ehr before?"

That was a great package deal!

I was 39, Taria! . In message , Taria writes

Thanks all for your stories. They give me hope! DS is 40 and still unmarried, his last two serious relationships went to heck and I think he is in the twice burned, forever shy mode. My fondest hope is that he will find some compatible lady who already has children. Just imagine, instant grandchildren! In the meantime he is happy where he is, and I guess that's all we can hope for in our children.

Magic would be good, too! To be honest, they are in the middle of those heartbreaking fertility issues, doctors, disappointments, and more doctors. And not the least of my thoughts was, I wanted to make a "grandchild quilt" while I am still *able* to hand quilt. Who knows, maybe they'll end up adopting, that is why I chose a toddler-sized quilt instead of a baby quilt. Child #2 is nearly thirty, and unmarried, but to be honest it scares me to think of him as a parent. :-)

Sherry

One more thought. A kit is really nothing more than having someone else pick the fabric for your quilt. It's not much different than going into a shop and having someone there pick out the fabric for you or using the same fabric as pictured on the pattern. Of course, kits are seldom one-of-a-kind, so there will be other quilts with the exact pattern and fabric choices as your quilt.

If your Hungry Caterpillar quilt used the Hungry Caterpillar panel, its coordinating fabrics, and the F&P pattern, it probably looks a lot like the ones I made for my 2 youngest granddaughters. However, I designed my own pattern and had the tops made before I got the "Love of Quilting" magazine with the F&P pattern. There's a photo of one of the tops I made at . The book was one of my daughter's favorites, too. I gave her daughter a book to go along with her quilt. The other DGD already had the book, so I bought her a Hungry Caterpillar DVD to go with the quilt.

Julia > I just finished a kit purchased from an online quilt shop, that

Sherry: Quilt shows have guidelines and some will not accept kit quilts. Most small local guilds will accept them. 99.9% of quilt shows have a registration form of some sort. It has spaces for technique, size, and so on. That is the place for you to state: "Made with a kit from the Name that Shop, using a Fons & Porter quilt pattern. machine pieced and hand quilted by Sherry. I chose this kit because my grown daughter loved the Hungry Caterpillar book by Author's Name when she was a young girl." Now, go and fret no more. PAT in VA/USA

Joanna, Working up a published pattern is a bit different, as it involves color selection. I do agree that Sonny's workmanship is what made the collection of fabric an actual quilt. However, I would point out that color selection is part of quilt making, and someone other than Sunny selected the fabric. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it is fair to state that it was made from a kit.

Later, PAT in VA/USA

Thanks Pat. I doubt I ever enter a real quilt show, just the little local ones (viewer choice). And I honestly don't mean to be obsessive or making a mountain out of a molehill. I worked in print media / advertising design my whole life and always had to be so mindful of copyright violations. Entering a kit quilt seemed uneasily like quilt- plaigarism.

Sherry

Wow, you made this *before* the F&P pattern came out? Girlfriend, you shoulda copyrighted it and made 9 or 10 bucks off every pattern sold. It's better (IMO) than the F&P. The squares make it more colorful.

Sherry

Displaying them all together would highlight the levels of piecing skill and also the various approaches used by the quilters. On the other hand, it might make some people aware of how "un-unique" a kit quilt is. As a result, they may be less likely to use a kit, thereby reducing the advertising effect.

Julia > I am waiting to see what happens at our next guild show in March.

This happened at our guild. The first year the show had lots of kit quilts and many were duplicates. The part I didn't like was the signs said "made from a kit from shop name" where as kits from other shops/online weren't labeled since those people didn't write down the shop or something. The next show there were far fewer kits and none of them identified the shop purchased from just that they were kits.

The hanging part is hard. We've had similar quilts hung together but then you get people making comparisons and not every viewer is nice. But, when we separate them you hear people saying "we saw this row already" and such because they recognize the repeat but don't always "get" that it's a different maker and not something they've already walked past.

marcella

Oh my golly, such mixed feelings about Marcella's post. Many times I've seen quilts at a show that were so similar to others in the same show. Were they from a kit? A BOM ? A guild project? From a session taught by a quilter showing 'her' quilting method and pattern? And what could possibly be legitimately entitled 'original'? That's a hard call. I guess I'm only responding really to Marcella's comment that " We've had similar quilts hung together but

Before we go inside a quilt show, I take the friends with me aside and say in my sternest cold gray voice: The person who made the quilt you're seeing may be standing right behind you. You will be gracious and well-mannered and polite or I will bring you back to the car and paddle your behind. Are there any questions? What EVER would quilt shows be without quilts? Polly

"Marcella Peek" This happened at our guild. The first year the show had lots of kit

Good for you, Polly. And it *is* a hard call sometimes -- Patterns are so trendy around here -- depends on what was "hot" last year and on top of that, there's only one LQS....some of the quilts looked a lot alike, but weren't kits. Apparently a lot of quiltrs were drawn to the Moda "Faded Memories" line a couple of years ago -- there were a lot of quilts that looked very similar because of that.

Sherry

ons and not every viewer is nice. "

At the last quilt show, I had 3 quilts hung together. Two were for sale and had a price tag on them. I was "white gloving" in another row, and had several people stop and ask me why my quilts were so cheap! Quilting fabric in Canada is very expensive, and quilts are priced accordingly. Mine were made from scraps (deemed garbage by DH), and fabric was purchased while in the US. I am a careful sale shopper, and only pay full price when I have no other alternative, or just fall in love with the fabric. I did sell several quilts at the show, but I don't think I'd have sold as many if the price was higher. One quilt was for sale for $2400!