i am feeling really really guilty and selfish - i just finished up a quilt top i was making for a gift and i just can't part with it. i really never make myself any quilts to keep but i really want to keep this one (it was also one that involved a lot of piece work etc). so - thinking of just making a dif one for my gift quilt. being selfish, huh? does anyone else ever do that?

You are not selfish :D there is nothing wrong with making another quilt for the gift :D:D:D

If you want to keep it...DO IT!

I often feel the same way. I made a jelly roll quit that I can't bring myself to share.

Keep it, it is calling you to keep the quilt

If you want to keep the quilt...keep it. No guilt necessary. Another gift will be appreciated by the recipient :).
We quilters are soooo hard on ourselves :) :)
p.s.
Would love to see a picture :)

Repeat after me: "it IS perfectly OK to keep a quilt that *I* made, with fabric that *I* paid for, using *MY* machines"....

Nobody even knows that you 'intended' that particular quilt for anyone else (unless you tell them) so why agonize over it... Just say, "I made this one for myself"...

(see how easy that is LOL)

Unless you promised it to someone, I don't see a thing in this world wrong with you keeping it. Afterall, it is your quilt.

Quilting is your art. There is no guilt in loving it. Make your gift another one.

It's your quilt. Do what ever you want with it.

I agree...

I think it's the intent that counts. If you love the quilt THAT much, keep it. If you don't want ANYONE ELSE to have it....then you should give it away.

Keep it and enjoy. You deserve it.

I am in the process of doing the same thing. I promised one of my nieces a black and red quilt and now that I am half way through it I know I am not going to be able to let it go. It is my first French Braid and it is coming out beautifully. I will have enough fabric left over to make a D9P so that is what I am going to make for her. I am not usually this way either and I am not particularly fond of black and red but for some reason I really love this quilt. Don't feel guilty, some quilts just call to us. Make her another one with lots of love and it will be better for both of you.

When all else fails, you just say, this was practice. Now on to the finished product.

I have done the same thing. Made a quilt for a cousin, fell in love with it and just won a blue at our local fair with it. I know I should pass it on, but I just love it!

I like your reasoning mrspete!

Ditto!

If you bought the fabric and didn't promise THAT quilt to anyone - I'm with everyone else - keep it and enjoy it!

You know that saying - "love your neighbor as yourself"?

I think that also implies one should care for oneself - one has to respect and care for oneself before being able to care for and/or respect others.

True Artists are always faced with this dilema. But the most important thing is keeping your finest work for yourself. You can make another one for the gift. That will give you an opportunity to try something new! When I make wall hangings I always make them 2 at a time because I always want to keep one for myself!!!

KEEP IT

It is yours until you give it away. If you keep it for yourself, then you can look forward to making the gift quilt. You may keep it if you want.....

Keep it!

Could you make another one, or an identical one so that you can still give the gift that you intended?

I'm in the same predicament. I want to keep the baby quilt I made for someone (they don't know about it)..but hubby reminded me that if I felt God led me to make that particular quilt for that person then I should give it...and I have decided I will. But it is still going to be hard, but I know the recipient will be blessed. Besides, I can always make another sometime :)

But if you decide to keep your quilt, then you do that and don't feel guilty about it.

Keep it - unless it falls in one of these two categories - a) You already promised this one to someone or b) you planned it as a gift and don't have time to do something else.

I can already tell I'm going to really fall in love with the quilt I'm planning for my IL's...I might buy extra fabric so I can make one for myself. LOL

i am feeling much better already - in fact have already started planning out another quilt for them which I even think they might like better! They like more vibrant colors I think (the grow a lot of flowers) and the one I have made is more muted - so maybe it will all be OK and I will not have to miss my quilt! You guys are right - we make them and we should decide who gets 'em!

I can certainly sympathize with your dilemma. Keep it if you want, give it to your friend if you know that you can handle giving it to someone who will truly appreciate your love and hard work involved in making it. No need to feel selfish if you decide to keep it. And, if I kept every quilt I finished and didn't want to part with, I'd never have any to give away. :)

If you love it you should keep it. Make another one for the gift.

I agree, if you love it you should keep it! It is YOUR quilt, after all. I had the same dilemma this time last year...someone asked me to make a quilt for them and it turned out so beautiful I had a hard time parting with it! The quilt really didn't go with my decor at all, though, so I let it go to a very happy recipient. I learned some important lessons working on that quilt, and I can always make one similar if I want to.

I guess I'm the selfish one here. I plan everything I make for ME! Then if I'm not totally in love with it, I will give it as a gift. :twisted: :twisted: :XD:

Works for me! :thumbup:

Nothing wrong with that! It is YOUR FABRIC and YOUR CREATIVE WORK. That makes it YOURS unless you decide to give it away.

My closet is full of quilts I couldn't part with. Perfectly understandable...and acceptable.

OMG, what would you think of me hahahahahhaha...I keep all my quilts. There must be 30 or so of them. Except for the ones I make specifically for my PIL's and those have been just 5. I have another one in the works for a little boy.

I agree whole heartedly make her another one

I have given away so many quilts, I don't feel at all guilty about keeping some.

I make a lot of quilts for other people, BUT I make a lot for myself also. I do the ol' one for you, and one for me, two for you and one, two for me! Hahaha, I don't always want to give them away. Sometimes I make the quilt just to make cause I like the material or want to try something new and end up giving it to someone. So don't feel guilty you are not alone.

It would be very nice to see a pic of your new quilt, if you can post one for us.

LOL on some of the above reasoning, I agree, it's yours till it goes out the door, then not too late to stop on the way for a gift card, Can unwrap when you get it back home!! or wait till your Birthday, still a gift just to you!! :)
You know you deserve somthing nice for making such a
pretty :)

I do that all the time.
I grow attached to certain quilts, and I figure if it makes me happy, I should enjoy it.
I made it.

I have done so much gifting that I never have kept for myself. I spent about ten years cross stitching. I do not have a single finished piece! I spent two years crocheting. Guess who is the only one without a a crocheted item?
If you love this one keep it! The reciever of the gift will never know!

This happens to me all the time. I have all the best intentions (which I see through to the end) of making up the quilt for someone. YOU BOND WITH A QUILT! Don't laugh! I bond with all of my quilts. Why, you ask? Because while you are working on it, things happen! Happy things, sad things, funny things, ridiculous things. And they become sewn into the quilt. I have found that when I make a quilt regardless of who it is for, I make a book. Each block has a story - what I was doing, how I felt, what the headlines were, what the weather was, what I was planning on doing that day. Sometimes I will put in the story of the block (a little research necessary there) because I know the recipient of the quilt will better understand the meaning of the quilt. I have done this for every quilt I make. I keep it in the computer until the quilt is done and then I print it all up, put it in a folder and put it with the quilt. It is a lot easier to part with the quilt that way, knowing that the recipient has a part of you in the quilt and will better be able to understand the ways and idiocyncrasies of a quilter, our whims, and fancies, why we changed the color in that block from this to that and the meaning to you of that particular little square. I made myself a memory quilt and it is my life from 1938 to 2008 (735 squares). Each little square in every block has a special meaning and I can look at it and remember every little detail of my life.

I love to quilt for other people. Sorry for my ramblings, but this article is special to me. Not only are you giving them the gift of a quilt (which, to me, is the epitome of gifts, because it is so truly from the heart), but you are teaching them love, value, caring, of what was a bunch of pieces of fabric into what is now an extremely valuable gift, priceless and given from the heart. Edie