I love the giving away part........I choosy about who I give them to and know they'll be appreciated. However, I ALWAYS take a picture of them.....I keep an "accomplishment album". It's a great pick-me-up for those days when you want to quilt but HAVE to clean - you can do a quick look and see how much you've done......it's incentive to get your work done and get back to the fun stuff!

So far, the only one I have given away I gave to DH so it didn't go far. I will be sending back a QGK's quilt, but I am happy to let that one go.

Oh Dagny, I know what you mean! My DH has been working all day to convert my old machine cabinet to one that I can use my machine flush, or up for free arm and embroidery work (sweet darling man!). Sadie, my Bernina, hasn't even left the house but I am suffering separation anxiety because she and I can't play. Funny enough, I have a Juki on a frame too, so I did spend some time practicing with Blossom, but I really want to play with Sadie! :-( ;)

It depends on who I give it to. I have made queen or king size quilts for my 4 children and some grand children. Even though all of them asked me to make one for them, I'm not sure if one is even being used or displayed. It took me a while before I actually gave it to them.

No I have not had problems letting a quilt go. I do have problems cutting some fabrics or using some fabrics that I know I won't see again.

I just love the pastel colors (Kashmir by Moda) of the second quilt I made. I donated it to a Rotary charity silent auction but there weren't high enough bids and DH bought it and gave it back to me. I made it for that purpose but now I haven't found anyone who will love it like I do. I guess I will keep it until I find someone who does.

It never bothers me at all when I plan from the start that I am making it for someone, it is when I am making it for me and wind up giving it away that I feel the separation anxiety.

LOL, i made a wallhanging when i first started quilting for a chinese auction at a retirement home, i spent a small fortune winning it back. I have gotten good at giving and saying good bye to stuff since then LOL

I have kept my first, second, and 24th quilt. The rest I gave away mostly to my 4 children and 15 grandchildren. My two happiest moments are when I finally settle on a design and layout and then when I see the surprised face of the recipient!! I had a photo book made at Walmart for $10, with 40 quilts, and a little history under each photo!! Best investment I could have made!!

I get twinges when I'd give them away. Some of them turned out so great I couldn't believe 'I' actually made them! So wish I could have kept them. lol!!!

good idea to have a history photo album

Well, now that depends. If it is for Jim and I know it is staying in our house, then it's not so bad. The one for Jim's brother, Chris, will be going all the way back to Massachusetts. Not only will there be separation anxiety, but worry about the post office getting it there after all my hard work.

I would never send a quilt by mail that was not sent Priority Mail with tracking!!! At least you would stand a chance of it being located if it didn't show up when you expected. I do this when mailing to a long armer and she does the same coming back!!

I don't know since I haven't been able to part with anything yet. It's getting hard to continue making things as they pile up.

no because usually i am glad it is done and ready to start on the next venture!!

This is a great idea. I'm fairly new, so it's a good time to start the album. Haven't given away any yet, but I already worry about doing that. I think I will want to keep them all, but then I think, they aren't doing anybody any good stuck in a closet. We'll see when I get to the point of giving one away.

This is so true that they aren't doing anybody any good sitting in a closet. I also have a wonderful album that I go through a lot. I think I'm getting ready to let go a little now though but I don't really have anybody to give things to who would appreciate them. LOL I sound like an over protective mother.

One thing I plan to do with my "leftovers" is make lap quilts. They are about the size of a wall hanging, then I want to give them to the VA hospital. They will appreciate them, maybe not understand the work, but understand someone thought of them and cared enough to make them. My mother used to crochet lap blankets from her leftover yarn.
Ronald McDonald may be a possibility if you have childrens prints. I'd check with them first. Both are near by for me.
:lol:

Most of my quilts go for in-need kids or Quilts of Valor, so I
have no trouble giving those away at all.
Only one quilt was hard to give away, then I found out that nobody ever sees the front of it. The back is a Mardi Gras print, the front is a basket quilt. It was a wedding quilt. Here's the picture.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...45965719fgaxFs
Sharon W.

Absolutely! By the time I give the quilts away, they're old friends--or sometimes mortal enemies. Those are a little easier to get rid of!

At first I wanted to keep everything that I made. Mostly because I didn't think anyone would appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that went in to it. Plus I was afraid the quality wasn't good enough. But now, I love giving things away. Mostly totes and pot holders. I just gave my niece a quilt for her graduation present and had zero separation anxiety. Another milestone reached due to this board.

You have my complete sympathy! I spent a lot of time making my sister a wedding quilt only to discover they only use the back. In fact, she's having me send her the extra fabric so she can make pillows and curtains to match the back. :roll:

nope, love to see them go to someone who can use a hug... just sent out today the downy quilts i finished over my vacation...

took them to work, and had a couple people say "do you really need to send them, cause i want them" so now i have more people to quilt for!

While I said I just make a second quilt for me.. I have given quilts to both my DS and his wife.. and my DD and her husband.. I've give numberous ones to charity and several to each grandchild. I've given ones to friends and extended family.. I didn't make a second one for myself of those.. I gave them gladly and seldom feel any separation anxiety over them.. only joy at seeing how happy they make the one I give it to. Now if I went over and found that one was being used for a dog bed, I might feel differently!! So far that has never happened to me.

Thanks Tiffany, at last someone who understands!
Sharon W. in Texas

Yes, sometimes and I just run back into my sewing room asn start another project!!!

I always take a photo and give them a "test snuggle". Quality control, you know. ;)

And most of mine go to family, so later I can "visit" them.

When I first got into quilting I had several very old ladies (who are now in quilt heaven) explain to me that I had to sleep under each of my finished quilts before giving them away. It was a way to bless the quilt and was considered by luck to give it away before sleeping under it and was a tradition that had gone on as long as they could remember. For the first few years, anytime I finished a bed quilt, I would sleep under it. Funny but it really did help with the anxiety issue, and made me feel good knowing the people I gifted the quilts too would be kept plenty warm. Of course, if it was hand quilted then I often fell asleep under it while working on it, usually in my chair while the tv is going. :roll: :lol:

tiffany, That is very sweet and i believe they were right!! But did you ever hear that the first person to sleeep under a new quilt will dream of the one they will marry? I am already married and my dH is a definite keeper so is this risky or what? tee heee hee

Rofl! :lol: I wonder what my husband would think of this. I better not let him sleep under any of my quilts first! :shock: :lol:

tiffany, do you know any other quilt superstitions? I love old sayings and legends and such!

I keep giving my quilts to people I end up never seeing again! I made a huge king-sized Looney-Tunes quilt for a guy and when we split up, there went my quilt. I made a quilt for my neighbor's teenage daughter -when we moved, that was the last I saw her. Same with co-workers and my dh's co-workers that I make baby quilts for. Not one of them still work at the same place with us. I worry that they won't hold onto the quilts I made and they will end up in a rummage sale or given to Goodwill when their kids outgrow them. Makes me kinda sad.
(I forgot to take pictures of a few of my quilts... wah!)

So, I guess I should make quilts for my family so that I can go "visit" my quilts. That way, I won't feel so separated from my creations and I will know they are cherished.

yes, and sometimes you just want it out of the house :lol: God bless. Penny

Wow Shelley, what a wonderful response to your gift.

I am usually so excited to give the quilt to the person I don't think about parting from it. So far I have been very fortunate that the ones I have made quilts for have loved them and are very grateful so that makes me feel good.

Nope. I used to when I thought they weren't good enough to send out but, not anymore now I love to see the joy in people's faces when I give them one and the return visits seeing how much they enjoy them.