Re: Quilty day (sort of) yesterday

My suggestion to anyone considering donating a quilt to a charity auction is, if possible, to attend one of the organization's auctions to see how things sell before donating anything. Auctions are very unpredictable, and I try to make my donations something that will be good quality but will also appeal to a lot of buyers. The little wall hanging that I donated this year was done with a minimum of materials and was really just a piece I did to practice some hand quilting; it was burgundy and navy, not colors that may have a wide appeal, so I was well aware that it might not bring very much and was satisfied with the $60 it sold for.

I have helped with some of the planning for some of the auctions at this camp and I know how touchy it would be to put minimum bids on any of the quilts. I just don't donate anything that I figure won't bring some minimum amount. I know small quilts (children's quilts and wall quilts) get more money for the work and materials involved, so I tend to donate those. I do try to do quality work, but mostly machine quilting, since that doesn't seem to make any difference on the final selling price.

Many of the quilts are donated by church quilting groups. Most of those groups are organized for the purpose of making quilts for missions and world relief, and too often they pick one of their more attractive "mission quilts" for donation to the auction. Too many of these tend to make the auction unattractive to those buyers who may only be interested in buying nice quilts. Fortunately at this auction, the quality of the quilts has improved over the last few years.

Another thing I have noticed is that too many of the bed-sized quilts are not at least queen size. I think sometimes some quilts would sell better if they were larger.

Julia in MN

I was recently speaking with a family friend about her school's charity quilt auction contribution for this year. She has cross-stitched teddy bears squares and her pupils will be deciding on the primary colour setting strips (log cabin style) for each piece. Photographs are being taken at each stage of the quilts progession which includes the children who are busy a work on each step - the photographs will be included with the quilt when it is auctioned for the Canadian Cancer Society. Last year's quilt with photographs of the children who were involved with its creation, brought $400 to the charity. There's no batting involved - fleece is used for the backing. Jennifer in Ottawa

--------- Tue, Aug 19, 2003, 7:35am (EDT-1) From: snipped-for-privacy@chartermi.netREMOVETHIS (Julia=A0in=A0MN) My suggestion to anyone considering donating a quilt to a charity auction is, if possible, to attend one of the organization's auctions to see how things sell before donating anything. Auctions are very unpredictable, and I try to make my donations something that will be good quality but will also appeal to a lot of buyers. The little wall hanging that I donated this year was done with a minimum of materials and was really just a piece I did to practice some hand quilting; it was burgundy and navy, not colors that may have a wide appeal, so I was well aware that it might not bring very much and was satisfied with the $60 it sold for. I have helped with some of the planning for some of the auctions at this camp and I know how touchy it would be to put minimum bids on any of the quilts. I just don't donate anything that I figure won't bring some minimum amount. I know small quilts (children's quilts and wall quilts) get more money for the work and materials involved, so I tend to donate those. I do try to do quality work, but mostly machine quilting, since that doesn't seem to make any difference on the final selling price. Many of the quilts are donated by church quilting groups. Most of those groups are organized for the purpose of making quilts for missions and world relief, and too often they pick one of their more attractive "mission quilts" for donation to the auction. Too many of these tend to make the auction unattractive to those buyers who may only be interested in buying nice quilts. Fortunately at this auction, the quality of the quilts has improved over the last few years. Another thing I have noticed is that too many of the bed-sized quilts are not at least queen size. I think sometimes some quilts would sell better if they were larger. Julia in MN