My neighbor knows I just become a first time grandma of NICU twin babies, but asked me if I could make a t-shirt quilt for her granddaughter. I mentioned I am making all the nursery items...sheets, crib skirts, bumper pads, quilts and she said there was no hurry. I should tell her I can do it when the girls are in 1st grade!!!!

I gift most of my quilts, sew for the hospital and make charity quilts for the church..................BUT I don't take orders. I would rather decide who, what and where and donate my time and money, than sew for others with their time schedule & choice of pattern & try and please them. I do it for fun!

You didn't just do a good thing Zennia. You did a wonderful thing! What a rude woman! I can't help but wonder at the values she's instilling in those children. I pity those children, but at least with your family in their lives we'll hope and pray that your grace will influence them.

I'm loving this thread too. My mother had no idea what it took to make a quilt. The time, fabric cost, etc. Now she does so never asks me to make one as a gift for one of her friends. She does have one of her own though 1st quilt off my new Innova system when I got it back in 2012.



A young couple heard I made quilts and the hubby wanted to make one so I told him I would teach him, even supple the fabrics for his 1st one (possibly his only one). I made him go thru the entire process of picking out a quilt pattern, the fabrics from my stash, starching them and pressing them all 1st. Then I gave him the rules on the rotary cutter, sewing machine, etc. He had to do all of it himself. He's a bit slow but meticious so I'm happy he will finish it. He chose the snail trail pattern, not a beginner pattern by far. Then his wife picked out the quilt pattern and fabrics she wanted for the quilt I'd make them. I'm making quilts for everyone in my small congregation so this didn't bother me. It takes a lot of the pain of deciding what to make them out of my hands. BUT....................................I told them that their quilt would only be made if hubby got his quilt made 1st by the end of this year. Otherwise I would enlarge the quilt to queen size and finish it for them and this would be their quilt from me. Nothing like a threat to make sure it gets finished

Someone my husband and I know was getting married and my husband asked me if I could "just whip up a quilt" to give them - he didn't want to spend money on a present. I just smiled and said "two things - first - you don't just 'whip up a quilt' and secondly, I didn't like them that much." We bought a gift.

A female co-worker said "Where's my quilt?" We do not get a long. Then she asked if I could make her one. I said that if she wanted to pay for the fabric, I'd show her how to make one. I then estimated how much one would be. I never heard from her again on the subject.

Just because we enjoy quilting I get asked often " can you sew up a couple pairs of jeans for me. They just came undone a little. " When you see the jeans they are ripped out next to the seam. Sewing the seam is had enough on jeans. a tear next to it is worse. Or will you fix my grandmas old quilt? The quilt is thin bare and half gone. Where's my wand?

I was asked to repair a quilt after the dog had chewed thru the middle of it. It was a huge hole. They wanted the same fabrics so it would 'look like new'. I said no and suggested they cut off a corner of it and frame it as a memory quilt. They didn't ask anything again.

My sister-in-law bought a pink fluffy dress for a Halloween party - it was maybe a size 6 and she is maybe a size 16 - she thought I could just "make it a little bigger"

I had an old boy friend ask why I did not make a quilt for his 1st grandson. I just wondered what his wife would have said if I had actually made one.

On the other side of this coin, sometimes we, as quilters, perpetuate this magic wand myth.
How many times have we seen a post on here such as "help. It's Monday and I just got a baby shower invitation in the mail. I didn't know she was expecting....the shower is Sunday! Does anyone know of Quick Baby quilt pattern that I could make by this weekend?" Although there is always no shortage of helpful answers, it's also OK to go buy a baby bathtub and some onesies (or whatever) at the baby store. Heck, if you didn't know that she was expecting, how close are you really, and why do we feel stressed out and compelled to make a quilt?

I know a Man that has a back hoe or some machine like that which you could add forks to lift big items up. I ask him if he could come by and give me a estimate on moving a shed about 12 feet out from where it was. I told hime I would empty the shed out. He said he would not charge me but wanted me to know he did not have insurance. I said I know that. the next breath from him was I know, " how about a quilt". He never came by and I am glad.

A guy was working in my yard, I told him I did not have money to pay him. He kept working saying he enjoyed doing this sort of stuff. I remarked to a friend that it was pretty unusual and spectacular. I said that I intended to make him a batch of cookies. She actually took quilts down from my display and chose a king size quilt and said that one would be good to give him. It took me quite awhile to get my jaw off the floor.

A few years back my DH asked if I could make a friend of ours a quilt for Christmas. He is 80 and lives by himself and my husband wanted to give him a quilt he could cover up with while watching TV. He said nothing fancy. I suggested I make a jelly roll race type quilt. My DH thought that would be fine. We gave it to him and he loves it. Tells me every time I talk to him on the phone that he is using it or he just washed it. Anyway, his daughter found out I made him a quilt and my DH asked if she would like me to make her one. (My DH assumed she knew she would have to pay for it) He asked her what type she wanted and she replied "like the ones she sees on the clothes lines in Kentucky". So, I e-mailed her and confirmed she wanted one and she said yes. I told her to let me know the size, colors and if there was a pattern she liked and I would give her a price. Haven't heard from her since. Another person that thought it would be free.

Question: when making quilts for charity, does anyone writing off the donation(s) on their taxes? Just curious!
I know that monetary donations and other gifts to charity are deductible.

(I haven't started on a quilt yet because 2 other (non-quilt) projects are not finished; now I'm thinking I should just bite the bullet and start without waiting for everything else to be finished.)

I had a friend who wanted me to make a quilt out of her deceased mother's clothes. She brought them over. I told her that she had to take the seams apart, wash, and iron the fabrics so we could cut quilt pieces out of them. She left and I never heard from her again.

Another "wand" story- is my DD has a friend, who figured out that I sew. He brought me a very thin, well worn Tshirt, and some leather pieces that he wanted me to use to put patches on the Tshirt with! The weight of the leather would have shredded the Tshirt, and I do not sew leather at all especially not on my quilting machine. Still makes me laugh.

I once agreed to make a wedding dress for a bride who was recent arrival from Russia. I told her to get the fabric, pattern, and explained how the list of notions worked. I heard nothing out of her for six months. I figured she had just bought a dress. Four days before the wedding she showed up, with fabric, pattern, notions, and even thread. This was before I learned to "just say no." I managed to get her white satin dress with silver shot lace sleeves, and silver sequins hand sewn on, and ready two hours before the wedding. She had agreed to pay me when she got back from her honeymoon. Imagine my chagrin when she came by and handed me an envelope with $10 in it....(To be fair, when her new hubby found out what she had paid me, he brought me another $190. In her experience, $10 was a huge fortune, especially in American money.) That was the last wedding dress I made.

I made a quilt for a friend's new grandaughter, (she is not a close friend), next time we met she informed me "It's not fair that Kate is the only one with a quilt I have five other grand children who would like quilts".

Needless to say I now keep her at a distance. Some people have no idea how long a quilt takes to make plus the expence.

I hope you said ,"Uh, No!"!

Good point!!!! Also how many times do we say "oh it's no problem or no big deal"? I know I belittle my own work way too often. Trying to stop that!!!! :shock:

Loved reading through all the stories! I don't have one. I have no problem saying "no."

I love this one - your son in law certainly knows the value of what he's got!

I love this thread and this board. I've read each story and can't help but laugh. Some people have more brass than a 40 piece band. I didn't realize the work and time it took to make a quilt before I made my first one. Gave me a whole new opinion of their worth. I don't have a story thankfully. I did learn how to say "no" several years ago. Thanks to all of you for the good read.

I would dump on DH for that one - - - if someone had said that to me - I would have also assumed that it was a "no charge" deal.

I make comfort quilts and do it with all the love in my heart, but recently when I was speaking with the mother of a young boy for more info about him before I start his quilt, I had to do some fast talking. After expressing her delight that I was going to make a quilt for her son, she asked how I knew about him. I explained that I get all my referrals by word of mouth. She was so excited, she asked for my contact information so she could "pass it out to everyone at the hospital".

After being momentarily stunned, I quickly explained that due to my own health issues, as much as I'd love to make everyone a quilt, I had to limit the numbers of referrals I could take and I'd hate to have to start saying no to a lot of people. She seemed to understand and I was relieved I wouldn't be hearing from all the staff and parents of children in the hospital. That was a "where do I buy a magic wand?" moment.

well my story is a bit different - we were showing some antique quilts to a decorator type lady who owned a furniture store. One was a bold, graphic "Hole in the Barn Door" or "Monkey Wrench" in blue, maroon and white. Her comment, "Imagine how this pattern would look in ALL white-on-white prints!" Huh???

I haven't had any "magic wand" stories other than someone wanting a quilt "by Friday" (impossible!), but I did have a guy who came by my craft fair booth last year that I wanted to bonk in the head with a magic wand! :mad:

He picked up a quilted wristlet, turned it over, saw the price tag, and muttered to his girlfriend (loud enough for me to hear) that it "wasn't worth $6". They left.

For one thing, it was WELL worth $6 ... I tend to underprice my stuff ... and for another thing, the price tag clearly said it was $4! Yep, FOUR dollars, not six.

I kind of wish they'd come back by, because I would've HAD to mention that the $4 wristlets sold out! :D

mine is a time "magic wand" story--just got back from a retreat with my DS--and 2 of her projects to quilt--which isn't really a big deal, but she was also hoping I'd take the handwork she did for a Christmas quilt and do the rest of the piecing and then quilt it--frankly, I was prepared to do that because we'd talked about it last year, but I'm swamped right now with customer quilts, part-time work, and guild responsibilities. so we worked out other arrangements. but I guess what surprises me is that non-quilters (or those that don't do alot of quilting) don't realize the amount of time the whole process takes--or at least takes for me!

A quilting friend's father had Dementia and she asked me to make them a quilt for him. She would pay. I said I would make a list of all fabric purchased as well as thread and batting plus time. I did a MSQC quick cathedral window with picture fabric in the Windows. I itemised everything and time in hours but no cost. All she paid for were the fabrics thread and batting I got nothing from them for my time. This was from another quilter, should have known better.

I agree with her. It would be subtle and stunning. She is a decorator. Lots of tone on tone patchwork as backgrounds esp.. In modern quilts.

Sandy

I f you assigned dollar costs to the materials but not to your labor, she might have thought you were not charging for your time. Sometimes it is just miscommunication. Remember Hanlon's Razor - "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".

That must be why she gets the big bucks. I can barely tell one WOW fabric from another unless I am right next to them. All I could picture was a sea of white.

Good one! Gave me a good laugh!

I used my magic wand to make a baby quilt for my great-grandson. The poor kid was already a year old, and when I heard I was invited to his first birthday party, next Friday, I whipped up a disappearing 9-patch with MSQC I-spy squares in all the corners. I got it done! Looks real cute.

Last Fall I had a lunch with a GF, I had driven to her small town about 30 min. from me. Thought I'd stop at he local shop for a yard of flannel. This friend went on to buy over $100 for a pattern and fabric, I am being confused she is a non-quilter... on the way back to the car she announces we could quilt for an hour on Wednesday's at her house. I thought my head was going to fall off my shoulders. When I claimed "no we would do this at my house, it was just wasn't worth it for me to spend 30 min. packing my car, the 30 min. drive for an hour of sewing.
She now wants to gift me the the goods.

If you donate a quilt to charity you can deduct the cost of the materials used if you have receipts. You cannot deduct anything for your time. If you are a professional who regularly sells quilts for many thousands of dollars you can still only deduct the amount that you spent for the materials in that specific quilt. This is something that artists have been fighting for many years. As a fine artist and jeweler I often get asked to donate paintings or jewelry to various charity auctions for which I can only deduct the cost of materials even if they raised much more than that in the auction. At this point I'd rather just donate money and take the deduction unless it's for a cause that is very important to me.

Rob

I had 2 baby/toddler quilts that I sold to a HS classmate for a couple of his Grkids. Well they were a big, huge hit. He promptly put in his order for 2 Spiderman quilts I said sure when I get around to it, OH NO he wanted, needed and had to have these for Christmas. I got it done and it only cost him a friendship.

Excellent point!! I have no problem saying no.

A few years back I was asked to donate a quilt to a silent auction. My friend agreed to donate one small as well. So I got busy and made a nice block of the month oversized lap quilt. Quilted it myself, my friend sent hers to a longarmer.We donated both quilts, although it was a good turnout, people wanted stuff for nothing, highest bid on either quilt was $20. My dh seen this and he placed a high bid on both of them and bought them back for us. He was not going to let them go for pennies. He was so insulted, as he has seen how long it takes me to make one and seen the receipts as well. Learned a lesson there.

There is only one answer that will put a stop to every request. It's simple and to the point. Say:
No, I don't want to. It works for every request, every time. If someone doesn't think twice about putting me on the spot I have fun saying No I don't want to. It's worth it to see the expression on their faces, You don't want to do something I wanted you to do for me???