Most of what I do are donation projects. Because some of what I do I recognize as being rather "taste specific" I really prefer groups that let the person choose what they get. My quilts can be very different and you can love one and hate another -- but they both will be good examples of whatever they are.
I use the same workmanship on all my projects, my personal gifts may have more design or technique to them. I like to piece quilt tops, and I want to make more than I have homes for -- if I did have a long arm I'd probably pretty comfortably make one per month or so, my growing stack of unfinished tops does make me pause and slow down a bit. Sometimes when I offer to make someone a quilt we go through my tops, whether my own finished or the "available" tops and someone really likes something I made with no one particular in mind.
I've seen some donated projects that I thought were pretty awful in one way or another. I don't think everything has to be brand new coordinated fabrics to look good, but things shouldn't look like you swept it off the floor either, and again, workmanship should be solid. In the guild I belonged to we supported Ronald McDonald house and we had a very critical person who did intake on every quilt (large guild, several hundred per year). She had a crew of menders, and if something was deemed completely unsuitable and/or non-fixable, there was a person with more tact who would privately tell the person what was the issue.
I say at worst a quilt will keep someone warm, but surely we deserve it to ourselves as creators as well as the recipients needing a lift at a hard point in life for whatever reasons, to make it as nice as we can. That doesn't mean that every quilt has to be show worthy, but even something humble made with love and workmanship can become more than just some left over fabric.