I have been asked to donate..
 

a quilt for a benefit. Since I have a couple of tops made, I may be able to finish & donate one or two. My friend is donating an adorable baby quilt. Any ideas on other things that may work at this silent auction. Smaller items I am thinking as the benefit is the mid of next month. thanks for any suggestions in advance.

Yellow Brick Road Lap or Twin size. Really quick and easy to put together

For a silent auction, I would donate money in the amount of the materials I would have used. I would have no problem donating a quilt for a raffle, but I would never do it for a silent auction. Have seen too many posts on the QB about quilts going for $15 or $20 that way. (If you search, you may find some of the old threads on this topic.) Many quilters said both the charity and they themselves would have been better off just donating money.

What about pillow cases - lots of patterns on the 'net and probably on this board (just haven't looked). I'm sure cases in favorite team colors could bring in bids.

think long and hard about whether or not you want to do it. It takes a lot of work - time and cost and the return might be minimal. How is the donation going to be used - Is it a door prize, auction, silent or otherwise. Do you want your work to sell for a fraction of the cost in time and money. the one who ask probably doesn't realize the cost in making a quilt. If you don't care then go for it. I donated an item to a local event thinking it would be auctioned and discovered it was given as a door prize. I don't give any more. And the pressure to get it finished even if you have a top. what size do they want? Do you get my drift?

I had made 4 sets of pillowcases several weeks ago and tucked away. I think that would be great to donate. Whatever they bring will help the family with medical expenses.

Food for thought on this, certainly makes sense. A person could have more in it than they would ever get out of it at the price of material.. I am a scrappy quilter so I can put one together relatively low price, but even those add up don't they. From what I understand it is a silent auction, but I will have to check for sure on details. I am just glad to help in anyway. I would be glad to donate some money also and a quilt. I will certainly remember this information for future use also, makes sense.

I had made 4 sets of pillowcases several weeks ago and tucked away. I think that would be great to donate. Whatever they bring will help the family with medical expenses.

I'd use previous years income at the silent auction as a gauge as to what I donated. If a quilt brought in a good amount of money, do that. Consider if a cash donation might be better for you. You sure don't want to spend a hundred plus for a quilt that will go for $50.

Since this is before Christmas, how about making some flannel pillowcases with holiday themes? Maybe a couple pair of nicer pillowcases for adults, and a few fun ones for kids (and kids at heart!) It's my experience that pillowcases are fairly cheap to make and pretty well received, not to mention, easy and quick to make.

I could not agree more... having had an experience with a full size quilt, log cabin done in 1 1/2 inch logs ... and long arm quilted that only went for $70.00 ... and the organizer was thrilled at the $$ it brought in. I had more than that in just the quilting services. My costs for batting, backing, top fabric, and long arm services was over $250.00.
I would have gladly donated even the cost of the longarming if I had known that it was not going to be raffled. Live and learn!