You can buy the most expensive and most exquisite gift at a store - but there is one element it will never have: the touch of your hands as you lovingly make/create your gift. It I have both the time and money to make a gift, I will be the happiest quilter in the world.

A lot of items are cheaper to buy, however, the ones we make and give as gifts to our special people are all filled with love and pride. You can't either of these in a store bought item.

You also have to remember what you see in stores is mass produced and there are thousands of those items around. When you make something, it is unique and therefore very special.

I do it for my own satisfaction and to feed my creative side. I don't continue to gift folks who don't express some apprecaition. But I feel great everytime I finish a charity quilt.

DITTO !!! However I only make gifts for the people who appreciate them.

I love quilting. It is my refuge when the world is crazy. There may be (usually are) some mistakes in what I make and give away, but every stitch is placed with love, and the recipient knows that. That is something you can't buy in a store. And, another thought, most handmade quilts have held up through the years much better that store bought items. I still have quilts from my grandmother from more than 40 years ago, and I treasure them, because she is no longer here. I think of her every time I see them.
nanac

I was at the thrift store today and a little old lady was looking at all the material that I was buying and asked what I was going to use it for. I told her that I quilt and that is the reason I was buying it. She told me that she wished that someone would make her a quilt and that her daughter quilts but she never has time to make her one.

So there are a lot of people out there that love the handmade gifts and would rather have them instead of something you buy off of a shelf.

Billy

Often times you can buy things cheaper than you can make them. The differences are: (1) you won't meet someone with exactly the same item because you are making one of a kind designer originals; (2) you have the joy of creating something for someone you love; and, (3) the quality will be a hundred times better.

Peggy
(still freezing in Florida!)

Well honestly, I love getting any gift, store-bought, recycled or homemade. But seriously, I just finished making curtains and drapes for the house. Not only did I get exactly the right color and weight of material, but I saved a small fortune by making them myself.

in the long run I've found that if you take the supplies and time you put into making quilts, runners etc...it's cheaper to buy them. But if you love making these things and have special people you know will appreciate them then it's worth the extra time and money. I enjoy surprising those I know love my work, puts a smile on my face when they call or email the surprise package arrived and when they saw the return address knew it was going to be good.
So if you love it your can't think abt the money end of it.