I have been doing charity quilts for about 9 months now. I keep hearing "it's just a charity quilt" and it makes me nuts. I see that mindset in the quality of the piecing as well. The fact is that yes, some of these quilts will be left on the bank of the river or suffer all sorts of "abuses". They may not be washed, they may be used in ways fabric was never meant to be used. Or they may be used somewhere they get washed all the time and passed from person to person. Either way, they should hold together.
I don't do the piecing, only the longarming, so I don't choose the colors. Yes, some of them are not to my taste and take me some time to come to grips with enough to quilt. That's my personal failing at this point. I will say this though: I have had a couple of quilts that I've had to restitch so they'd survive the quilting process. To me, that shows a complete lack of pride in one's workmanship. I also know a lady who needs her machine retimed for the 3rd time because she managed to get her longarm caught in a poorly stitched seam. She hasn't quilted for anyone in almost a year. The workmanship is important. LA Quilters will stop taking quilts to be quilted if their machines are damaged as a result of poor workmanship.
It's "just a charity quilt". It's "just" a quilt being given to someone who may have absolutely nothing else. It's "just" a quilt that may be the only thing this person has to show them that someone cares.
This is why I quilt the way I do.
Childrens quilts usually have some fun sort of quilting on them - geckos, teddy bears, etc. Adult style quilts will be quilted as tastefully as I'm capable of. Only 9 months in, I have definite limitations, but I always try to make the quilting appropriate and tasteful with one exception:
There's always a heart quilted somewhere in the quilt to show them someone loves them and thought about them when creating this for them.
NONE of my quilts are "just" charity quilts.