Have you ever kept a quilt instead of giving/donating?
 

I must be in my second childhood. Have started making small doll quilts for a charity group's Christmas gifts. The first one I made turned out so striking, that I can't bring myself to give it away. It is black/lime greens...with some frog fussy cuts. This is crazy....why do I need a doll quilt? Can you share a story if this has happened to you? P.S. I'm finishing up the second one....it is quite cute, but I don't mind sending it on it's way.

Keep it for a table runner and enjoy it! It's like giving yourself a hug.

It's your quilt until you give it away. You might change your mind later but for now it's yours to enjoy. I do the same with items I make for a swap. I end up keeping many of them for myself.

I totally understand. I gave a quilt to my brother and everytime I see it, I wish I had kept it. I have given most of my quilts away and am fine with it, but that one quilt I really wish I had kept. I'm thinking about giving him a bigger, manlier quilt and seeing if he'll exchange it. Hopefully, he will. He's not the type that gets attached to things.

If I've already promised it to someone, then I give it to them. Otherwise, if I really like it, I would keep it.

I had a really cute cat fabric (super bright colors....orange, lime green, blue, etc). I just bought the fabric because I loved it. Decided to use it instead of it sitting in my stash. I was thinking that it would be a donated quilt but dd saw it and wanted it. She felt guilty because I was thinking of donating it. Told her not to worry, I can always make another to donate.

If you love it and would enjoy it, I say keep it. Us quilters are such giving people that it will work itself out in the end!

you have a good heart. and time to make another one.. with just as much effort.. enjoy .. you will take time for one to donate.

good luck on your next project !

Ell

I usually give my work away--------one way or another. HOWEVER! I just finished up a ship some navy/royal/blue mottled fabric. The sails were in a moire white on white print, and the hull was a piece of brown/tan/blue that I had just a bit of but loved. I laid it on my couch to look at it, and try to decide where it's going.

TO ME! The fabrics are a perfect match for my couch. It's a small square quilt, but it covers my feet and looks great on the couch.

Just about every quilt I've made DH says, "I like it. You should keep it." But I've gone ahead and given them to the intended person. However I have a couple I'm working on right now - no intended recipients - that I might have a hard time parting with. ;)

I have loved every quilt I have made BUT they were not made for me! Always a reason I am making it! I have never kept anything I have made, quilt wise. I have been guilty that if I find that I really like the fabrics in a quilt I am gifting, I will go and buy more of the fabric and tuck it away for me! It is my promise to myself that this year I am making a quilt just for ME!

I rarely give my quilts away, here is a pic of some of my quilts that are piled high on a spare bed. I would have over 200 quilts ranging in size from dolls quilts to queensize quilts.

I do plan on selling most of them online or at a local market, but probably won't do that until I leave work.

I have made quilts for every member of my family, in fact some of them are on their second quilt now. I loved every single one of those quilts. Guess who STILL doesn't have a quilt to call her own...

I have the opposite "problem" I start a quilt thinking its time for me to have one on my bed and then by the time its done ... it has been designated in my mind to be a gift or donation. It not that I mind ... once I finish a quilt ... it can go live somewhere else.. there are always more to come.

Don't feel guilty about wanting to keep a DQ. It sounds cute and you made it. So I say enjoy your craft. You are already making others/more. Charity begins at home so be good to yourself.

I have. My SIL posted a crafter's challenge on her Facebook page last year. Basically, she committed to make something for the first 5 people that responded to her post. They would in turn post the same message on their page and do the same for 5 people and so on. Ok, I was the only who responded to hers and she was the only one who responded to mine. The item, which just had to be any handcrafted item was due before the end of the year.

I made a beautiful spool wallhanging. She has been talking about opening up a sewing studio and I thought that would give her a little motivation and have something pretty for the space. I totally fell in love with it. It is my first pictoral quilt. I can't give it up. I've tried but I just can't. The one saving grace is that she never came through with her part of the deal so I don't feel quite so bad.

Enjoy your little quilt! There will be plenty more opportunities to make something to pass along. Everyone deserves a treat once in awhile. :)

I have but then I make something else to take its place. I need to start keeping more things for myself actually... we're like the shoemaker's children around here... LOL!

I often make a quilt just to make it. Most I donate but some just need to stay home with me. Eventually, they will tell me where they should go. Until then, I enjoy them.

DH wishes he could keep all my quilts. Well, at least he tells me so ;-)

Yes, I've kept one quilt that was originally intended for someone else. Nine years ago (gee, I can't believe it's been that long!) I started a twin size quilt to donate to a local camp for special needs children. This was just 5-6 weeks after my mother had died, so I was still a bit emotional. The quilt was scrappy cats. Naturally, while I was piecing it, I was thinking a lot of Mama. Well, I love cats.....and I liked that quilt so much that I decided to keep it. Now, every time I look at it I think of Mama, how much I like the cats, and how glad I am that I kept that one for myself.

Oh, by the way, I did hurriedly make another colorful scrappy quilt for the camp, so they never knew the difference.

Yes, I can see it now! My husband claimed just this one of the many charity quilts I have made. It's a fish fabric log cabin in greens and rusty orange.

A few years back I made a quilt for my boss, my husband loved that quilt, said it was the pretties quilt I had every made,every so offen he would make comment about that quilt, now I am make him a quilt just like my bosses, using the same colors and the same pattern.

The only quilt I have kept is the first quilt I ever made. All the rest have either been given to friends and family, to charity, or sold. I work for the school district, they buy a lot of my stuff and occasionally I'll take orders. I enjoy other peoples work. I've bought several finished projects from board members.

Why don't you keep it a while? You can always give it away later, if you want to. (Or keep it forever if you get attached!)

I made a small quilt for a challenge contest. It fits pefectly on top of my washing machine so it is now a 'machine quilt'. My quilts cost on average $350 to make a double, so I don't usually give them away.

Charity quilts are my "hobby", last fall I put together another log cabin, using bright fabrics. My husband, who has vision problems, said it was the prettiest ever--it stayed, and I giftwrapped it for his Christmas gift. Charity begins at home, sometimes.

Sounds like Christmas shopping. When I hit the stores to do my shopping and carefully select for all my loved ones, I keep "buying way too much for ME."

Every once in a while DH will like one my Project Linus quilt tops so much that he requests we keep that one. So I do! I don't feel bad since I give them so much of my stash and time. Currently have 48 tops to drop off (2 months work). I feel like my stash couldn't go to better recipients and I love to piece. Win-Win!

All the time! I can't part with them. My boys laugh about their inheritance. Between that and all my sewing machines, they are not looking forward to me going anywhere and them having to clean out the ole sewing room! :D

I made a quilt for my parents for Christmas 2 years ago. If I could have gotten something else finished in time for Christmas I would not have given it to them. I told my mom this and she laughed. They have a sheet of paper with additions attached to their will. She added that I get their quilt to it. We laughed about it. I know my brothers and sisters would have given it to me anyway.

Yes I have a couple I made and had to remake because I fell in love with them.As someone stated there ours til we send them off.

I agree that I love most of the quilts I make. This year I am finishing up a big black appliqued quilt that I love and it is for me! DH wondered why I wanted it, but I reminded him that he got a beautiful one years ago that he loves. That's okay, then.

Keep your doll quilt for no other reason except that you love it. You don't need a reason other than that. If and when you get tired of looking at it, give it away!

Not only keep it, but hang it on the wall or put it on a prominent table where you can enjoy it. You'll be making more to give away - no need to feel guilty about wanting to keep this little bit of art for yourself. In fact, if there are people in your life who might think it odd of you to want a doll quilt, call it an art quilt, a miniature, a table mat or whatever it takes to remove the stigma of a big girl wanting a little girl's lovey. Tell them it commemorates all the Prince Charmings you kissed once upon a time.

Guilty....I made a quilt meant for a nephew but after all the testing it gave me I kept it for myself. A couple years ago I made a lap quilt for a dear friend who is wheel chair bound I loved it so much I made 2 more one for my aunt and one for me.

I say that unless they have already seen it that it is yours and if you like it to keep it. it is a good excuse to make another quilt to give to them. I have only three quilts in my house that I have not given away but those were for my little kids. these quilts will be here for about 15-18 years unless the kids decide to leave them when they leave for college/getting married. (both kids are under 5.) The longest I have kept a quilt after it was finished was maybe a week but that was because I was not able to give it to the person till then. I do have two quilts that have not found a home yet. (they were made as baby gifts but then I changed my mind about the fabrics or the pattern for the person so they got different quits) so there is nothing wrong with keeping the quilt and giving a different one, as long as a different one is given.

I think we all do that at one time or another. It's OKAY! You made it from your fabric and it is yours! Keep it any enjoy. There are all sorts of uses for tiny quilts and yours sound adorable!

Keep it and enjoy it as long as you want....you can always donate it later.

The one recurring theme to so many replies is how generous quilters are. You keep and enjoy that little quilt. It will remind you of all the hard work that you put into the quilts you do give away.

Keep some, give some away...it's your quilt. I have an assortment of small quilts that I like to put on my wall for a time, sort of rotating them as I wish. You should be able to keep and enjoy any that you really like. You can make a duplicate if you want. Some people keep nearly everything they make and then do trunk shows for guilds and other organizations for payment. There is no law about what you keep and what you give away and the quilt police won't get you!