SueSew

I enjoy shopping for craft items here and in my travels, and there is some beautiful craftsmanship here and abroad and I am always willing to pay the artisan what they ask. There is also cheap dreck out there which people throw together and then say 'handmade' to make a few bucks when perhaps they have marshalled their grade schoolers to do the work...and any adult with half a clue should know the difference!!!

A quilt is a huge amount of labor hours, and the craftsmanship adds to the cost...SHEESH! Your boss made a 'donation' to defray some of the cost of the work, she did not 'buy it'. You did not 'sell it'.
You made a lovely quilt and I hope you get some good karma here

cminor

I love that!!!

Annaquilts

You got to be kidding.

Kooklabell

2.66 per hour??? I think the decimal is off by one place. Maybe someone needs to learn the new common core math!

Jennie and Me

First off, the quilt is lovely. People just don't realize the time, effort and expense that goes in to a quilt. I've made two custom quilts...one King sized and one twin sized. Had the opportunity to do a custom baby quilt last year but decided to pass on it. It just is not worth the hassle. Although I have to say that I love the challenge. These are not patterns you can buy, they are customized quilts. This is why I "gift" quilts rather than try to sell them.

jeanne49

This is exactly why my mother would not make clothing for people. There were 4 kids in our family and I never had clothing that came from a store, except for underwear, until I graduated high school. She made everything for me and my sister - coats, all our clothing, hats and scarves and she also made the suits that my Dad and brothers wore. A neighbor had a friend who wanted dress made and asked my Mom to do it. Now this was the mid 50's and fabric and patterns didn't cost what they do now but then nothing does. Anyway, this woman expected to just pay for the material and thought my Mom would only charge her like $5.00 to make it. My Mom asked her how much her husband made per hour and why did she expect someone who made something in their home to work for any less. Needless to say she never made the dress and vowed never to make anything for another "outsider" again.

It's unfortunate that some people don't quite understand how much time and effort is put into our quilts. Hope you don't make another one for this woman unless she comes up with a lot more money.

beaqltr

Most people that do not do creative arts do not appreciate the time we put in. Many years ago I crocheted baby clothes and blankets and people wanted to buy them, but didn't want to pay a fair price. It was a hobby (not a business). I'm not good at selling. My SIL mother sold most of them for me at a fair price and a (commission?) for herself.

cminor

I am really having a hard time because she really does think that it is a good price. And I want to be ok with it. I really do like her a lot - I did enjoy making the quilt - I am soo glad she thought enough of me to even ask me to make this. I know she is very very close to this neice.

But...even with all that said.....its hard to look at those numbers. Believe me - she by no means intended to offend me. I don't doubt for a second that she really appreciates the work and the time. And if I told her I wanted $800.00 she very well may pay that - but I would never do something like that. It is my fault for not knowing what I was getting into. But as I said before - lesson learned. Even for a good friend...be careful.

As a side note - she made a T-shirt quilt top for her son last year. She sent it to her friend out of state to "quilt". This friend tied it - put the back on - took quite a long time to do it - and charged her like $300.00. At that time I felt bad and told her - don't ever do that again - I can help you! And I would.....But in this case it was more than just putting the back on and tying it.

Its just one of those things to learn the hard way. Even though all this is said and done - I am glad to have gone through the experience.

Peckish

Do not undervalue yourself and your skills.

Think about this: One of the things that drives some of us nuts is how girls and certain women think they're not good enough - not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not big enough boobs, etc. Right? And some of us get over that and some of us don't.

Well, the same goes for our quilting. We need to stop critiquing and denigrating our work and thinking it's not worthy, especially since it's a "hobby". Just because it's a hobby doesn't mean we shouldn't get paid. We need to get over that, too. There are lots of people who get paid darn good money for their hobbies.

I recommend this excellent post on the subject.

http://huntersdesignstudio.com/ew-worth-it-2/

tessagin

Love the quilt. My price is zip. I just won't do commissioned quilt. I make it when I want to. If I want to make a specific for some one, I ask about favorite colors. Just mix it into the conversation and make notes. SEnd myself an email with specs. I don't know what you make an hour but anything after normal hours is overtime and I use to get 1 1/2. If you make $15.00 an hour normally, then you should get paid $22.50 for every hour spent on quilt plus parts.