Originally Posted by Iceblossom

Having an economic value placed on something isn't just about bragging. As I say -- it aint bragging if it's true, your quilt is true! You should be so proud. When I say I'm deficient in the skills that improve a quilt by quilting, well you are the sort of person who shows me what is possible.

It is entirely up to you -- you know in your heart your value of the project. I myself would take advantage of the official appraisal to see what other people might think... it adds to our overall knowledge of our hobby if nothing else! From what I've looked at before, that seems to be a reasonable charge and would be from a very reputable source.

My husband and I have been discussing the financial value of quilts lately. I've never said too much about it to my friends and family, what my quilts cost to make or what my quilts would sell for or what it would take/cost to commission me. Another one of my sayings is I give freely but I don't work for cheap.. but it is becoming apparent that people just have no clue and so some of them treat my hundreds of hours of work and effort with disrespect. My quilts are blankets, they are meant to be used, but they aren't meant to be used to cover "valuable" pieces of junk furniture while being moved or be on the floor in the garage... so maybe they need to know that they can buy a blue tarp for $10 and maybe that's a better use of everyone's time and money.

So for my husband, three things stand out. One, I donated a baby quilt for a fundraising auction they had at work. He proudly told me it sold for $20. Great! I had $60 just in materials for that one -- but he had no idea. Second was he posted pictures of one of my projects and his brother/wife asked if I could make them something similar. I gave them what I thought was a very good offer, that I had no plans currently to make anything like that but I would sell them my completed project I made for me for $100, which would allow me to buy similar replacement fabrics for the top at sale price . That was too much for them. Third is recently I was given an almost complete Judy Niemeyer top, and I was talking about giving it to his sister, that she had the sort of life style and probably already had a list of specific items on her insurance policy. That even if quilted by me, it was the sort of thing you list in case of damage, fire or floods.

I had looked up this list when we were discussing that top -- there are other sources but here is the AQS list of local appraisers, you can search regions in the box on the top.
http://www.americanquilter.com/quilt...php?&offset=50

Originally Posted by cashs_mom

. I live in Houston and will most likely attend Quilt Festival. I've been there every year since the early 90's except for 2020 with the covid cancellation. I would be pleased to take some pics but you'll have to remind me before festival!

Originally Posted by cindi

I’d also advise you to get the quilt appraised before it goes to the show. If it gets lost or stolen in shipping to or from the show it won’t be covered.

Originally Posted by Grandma’sgirl

Congratulations on having your quilt accepted! That is so exciting! I also would advise having the quilt appraised. I think that the price is worth it.
can I share with you a story? In my family, there was a wonderful older lad who did handiwork’s. Now, every one loved her and appreciated her quilts. But one year, she had hand pieced and hand quilted a beautiful light blue sawtooth star with corner stones on a white background. Her neighbor begged her to show it and helped her sign up for the quilt show. Part of the judging process was having the quilt appraised. This was back in the early ‘90’s. Well, the appraisal was for over 1000 dollars. It also won. Well, after that, every single family member values her work even more! They would tell people that this quilt was made by a grand champion winner! The funny thing is that before she made the quilt, people had given her their favorite color schemes. None of them liked blue! She loved blue and she knew that she had to work with colors that she herself liked in order to work so many hours on this quilt. So after she got it appraised, several people wanted it, and she would not give it to them. Well, I knew none of this, and when I came to visit, she asked me what my favorite color schemes were and what colors I had decorated my house with. Well, blue is my favorite color and my house was decorated in blue and white. I was shocked when she pulled out the quilt and told me the story of the quilt. She promptly gave it to me!
But EVERY single person values what she made even more.They care for her quilts even more carefully.
and yes. The insurance is also a practical consideration.
Once again, congratulations on making it in!

Originally Posted by JENNR8R

After considering all of your wisdom, I decided to get it appraised. It's incredible how much information they wanted. Much of the information was on labels on the back of the quilt, which was already in Houston! I did my best...

I'll let you know how much it appraises for. I'm really curious now.