I did the same thing with 2 crocheted lap robes. I had about $25.00 of yarn in each of them plus about 40 hours of crocheting time. It was for a Boy Scout fundraiser. I asked later how they did with them and the director said, "Great! We got $10.00 for one and $15.00 for the other one." Next time I just gave a $20.00 cash donation. If you can't run it right, I don't plan to donate goods. Other organizations I have donated to and they were about $75.00 each.

I also would give away my afghans than selling them for a few bucks. Just saying............

Oh yikes! I would definitely hand them a $20 bill, next time. Gosh, that's a lot of work.

I gave my church a queen/king quilt to raffle. They had the tickets printed and didn't draw the winner until all the tickets were sold. After reading this, I'm not sure I would donate to an auction. :(

I had this happen to me, and now I tell them to use a minimum bid, or don't sell them at all. You will take them back and make a donation. It is really ridiculous to sell them for not even the cost of the fabric. Problem is most people don't have a clue what goes in to making one. Sorry you got burned. Jan

I completely understand your feelings. I agree with just making a donation the next time. I wonder if the person who's mother is a quilter asked her mother to make a quilt and she refused. And yes she of all people should understand the labor that goes into a quilt and should have done a sales pitch to boost the interest and bidding.

I just attended a church quilt auction where a lady did a lot of work to gather blocks and have the twins baseball players autograph 13 of the blocks. she told the auctioneer that he should get $1000.00 for that quilt. He would not quit until he got the $1000.00. I think it also depends on the auctioneers if they know the value of something, but I certainly wouldn't donate to an organization that would only get $25.00 for a quilt.

This is why I hesitate to donate a quilt to anyone. I mean if all you hard work isn't even appreciated enough to actually earn some substancial funds (more than you have in it) in a silent auction, what's the point? I think in some part that is the fault of whoever is running the auction. They need to put a reserve on the quilt and not accept anything below that amount. When my Curves group were having a silent auction this year, that is one of the things they did on some of the more expensive items and people still bid on those items. If the organizers are not willing to do this, then I wouldn't bother.
I know we are suppose to give willingly and free of expectations but there has to be a limit sometimes.

I donated a quilt for a penny social type of auction and the organizers put it in a lot with a gym membership and tagged it with a value of $125 for both items :( When I brought it to their attention, way before the penny social even started. I was told that it was already done and set-up! Like it was too late and they couldn't re-value it! Don't know what it yielded them in $$$ but, -- oh well, Live and Learn!

A friend has had experience of the same sort. She makes fabulous quilts and has donated several for raffles, the proceeds going to our food pantry. The last two have hardly been worth the work to sell the tickets in terms of the proceeds. I wonder if right now, raffles for quilts just aren't doing well due to the economy in many areas. I know I would probably feel hurt that somehow my quilts weren't liked or appreciated, but I really think it's just the stinky economy now. Keep going!

I would try to think positively that perhaps the people that got the quilts were thrilled because maybe they could not really afford to pay a lot and got a treasure they ordinarily would have stood a chance of getting.