Peckish

Most quilters call them tops, unquilted tops, or flimsies. Your mom was a longarm quilter. The longarm is the "big-ass quilting machine thingy", and depending on age, condition, and accessories, may be worth a decent chunk of change.

As others have stated, it is highly unlikely you will be able to sell all of it at once. Most people either cannot afford to purchase all of it, or would want to pick through for only the items they want.

Use local resources. Contact the local quilting guild, quilt shops, and even her longarm dealer. Sometimes longarm dealers will sell used machines on commission. You could hire an estate sales company to deal with it, but be careful and get someone who knows what they're doing with regards to sewing and quilting items. I have been to many estate sales where the estate sale people had significantly underestimated pricing (you lose money) or overestimated pricing (nothing sells).

Yiaya

Quilter’s Son,

I have no words for your double loss. It is nice to see you are handling it as well as you are.

is there someone that your mom quilted with that could help you figure out what you have? If not perhaps you can find a list of her customers and contact one or two for guidance on where to find the quilters in the area?

I have found that you will be overrun by people that quilt if you do decide to go the estate sale/ yard sale route. Not a bad thing but it can be overwhelming.

The advice you have been given in regards to a guild nearby and all the rest are great if you have the time. An estate sale would probably be the most efficient option for you but as others have said, they really should be knowledgeable about quilting, have a friend or customer of your mom’s meet them with you.

I wish you the best and please post more pictures of her wonderful quilts.

Rhonda K

So sorry for your loss. Moms and Quilters are those special people in our lives. Those are beautiful quilts.

Is there a quilt shop in your area? Did you Mom belong to local guild?

Onebyone

How did you find this site? There are any Facebook groups for selling sewing items. You can list on those groups. Many high end machines are listed and sold. Aslo Marketplace would be the best route to sell the big items fast. I doubt any posters here will buy from a seller with no history on the board. I wish you good luck and comfort.

QuiltersSon

Thanks.

I'm sure there are, where else would me mom take her machines when the broke, I think she taught also so, yes, I'll hunt around for my local quilt shop, good idea.

QuiltersSon

I think I typed into the google machine something like 'quilting forums' and you're not going to believe this, up you guys came - like a miracle sent straight from heaven. God loves the interweb (probably..)!

Nope, not a FB person, I think I'm the only person on the planet that didn't take that dive.

What 'no history'?? - I'll have you know I have 10 posts (11 now) and I'm a good person and rarely kick dogs or slap children!

No, kidding - I get it. Sites like this have their own vibe and community, everyone protecting everyone else. I had a girlfriend with really long hair, she belonged to a Long Hair forum that was extremally protective of it's members. I also belong to a Jeep Forum and in their own way, just as crazy about protecting the tribe from outsiders.

The advice I've gotten so far has been fantastic, I'm going try all of it. While I generally thought of most of those ideas plus maybe taking an ad out in a couple of the Quilt magazines, my primary reason to come to a site like this was to see, if by chance the consensus might be to hold out and sell it all as a package. I secretly wanted someone to take what my mom made into a well oiled quilting making machine and incorporate it into their studio or for someone to take it all and just magically plug in and go crazy with making (and finishing) quilts.

Pure fantasy, I know. And now that I've heard it from you guys, now I really know.

Sewgood

If you would post the state and city where your mom's "collection" is there may be some members on here that would give more local advice. Just a thought.

Lady Diana

Where are you located. There maybe some members who would travel to view what you have to sell.

QuiltersSon

A 'collection' - so fancy...

For sure, I thought I did that, sorry:

Lawrenceville, GA

Iceblossom

I'm glad you figured out the picture posting -- and you can even embed them in the text which is something I haven't gotten down yet.

I would also second the suggestion to look at maybe getting an estate sale/auction company involved -- looking at the general map around Lawrenceville, I see several options including "A Perfect Piece". Just as you introduced yourself to us, a similar introduction or mention of "a quilter's house, complete with long arm set-up, sewing machines, lots of fabric, etc." It can seem like a lot of money to go for a professional, but they know the market and going rate and can do most of the work for you, most operate on a flat fee + percent of proceeds so they want to sell high too. There are also more work for you options -- I used to get a lot of stuff from MaxSold, which is sort of a hybrid between ebay and garage sales. Sadly, they don't operate in my new area. Finally, there are places that specialize in Long Arms, like Long Arm University. Looking at their Machines for Sale page can give you an idea of some of the things you will need to know about your set-up:
https://longarmuniversity.com/MachinesForSale.html

I recently moved from a house I was in for some 30 years... it is a lot of work to clear out a quilters house! Wish I was a thousand or so miles closer, I am in the market for a long arm.