So in the process of moving I saw exactly how many quilts I have. Â It’s too many-period! Â At the time the quilts from our book weren’t even here at my house yet. Â Seriously…how many quilts does a girl need….and how many family, friends and charitable organization would appreciate a quilt?
So I went on a mission….I started giving a few quilts away. Â Yes. Â I saved a few of my favorites but not really that many. Â There are enough so all of my beds have two quilts and I have quilts to hang on quilt racks as extras.
The first one to pick was my friend Mandy. Â Mandy and her husband Carl are good friends of ours. Â We hang out with them a lot. Â We play cards and exchange help. Â I love having friend that I can work and play with. Â Mandy is a green fan and they have a big bed. Â She ended up taking my green Easy Street.
Next up I picked a quilt to give to friends of ours who gave us the flooring for our house.  I picked the big one in the trunk and gave it to them.  These two quilts we made and had published in Sweet Celebrations with Moda Bakeshop Chefs: 35 Projects to Sew from Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Fat Quarters, Charm Squares & More
Next up our son Buck picked. Â Buck was home this weekend by himself. Â Jen stayed home. Â He picked out the five he liked best then sent Jen this picture and let her pick out which one she wanted.
Jen chose Lazy Sunday.
Next to pick was our son Karl. Â It was really cute watching Karl pick. Â Each quilt he considered had to be laid out on my bed and “tested”. Â He ended up taking Smith Mountain Morning. Â I made mine larger than the one in the book so that was part of the appeal for him. Â The quilt was big.
I love that quilt…it was a fun one to make but even more fun to see him take!
Kalissa was next. Â She chose the three she liked and then her and Craig together made the final selection. Â She chose our design Cinder Block that was featured in Quiltmaker.
Next up to pick was my friend Sue and her husband Dave. Â They have been long friends of ours always doing favors for us. Â They were the owners of the big van that spent the summer here as a storage unit in our yard while we were working on the house. Â We really appreciate their friendship.
She chose one of our Moda Bakeshop quilts, Cheddar and Blue.
I loved the colors on this one. Â The colors is exactly why Sue picked it. Â She was hoping it might work in her bedroom.
I still have a couple more quilts to giveaway….Kelli opted to not take any quilts now.  She, like me, has MANY at her house.  She did ask that when I am ready to part with it that she get this quilt.   It’s the crumb quilt that I designed.  I said yes!
Kayla wasn’t home this weekend so the great quilt giveaway will continue once she has a chance to get home.
Before I did this I talked to Kelli about it. Â She has the same love of quilts that I do. Â She could understand why some of the quilts got put in the giveaway box but others she asked…are you sure? Â I told her that yep…the quilts were going in. Â She said you’d really part with them. Â I said yes…to the right person. Â All of the people who picked quilts will love and care for them. Â After everyone has picked I’ll see if there are others I still don’t want sent out for donation….I can always pull those out.
I have to say as every quilt walked out the door, I smiled….BIG SMILES…I am so happy that I am not hoarding all these beauties at my house and am instead letting them find a home where someone will love them. Â Honestly, I was getting to the point that I wondered why I should even sew anymore…sure people joke that you can never have too many quilts but honestly the piles of them have started to bring me down rather than lift me up.
I feel much free-er and ready to sew again!
How about you…are you ready to hold a “great quilt giveaway”??
I totally know what you mean. I did this one year. Had all my brothers and sisters (I have six) over for dinner and they all got to take home a quilt of his/her choosing. I loved it!
I have run thru all my friends and family. Now a friend and I specialize in making twin sized quilts for boys (mainly) and they all are machine quilted and donated to Lutherwood here in Indianapolis. It is a residential hospital for children with severe emotional problems and each child gets to choose and keep a quilt when they are admitted. I make racing, cowboy, ocean, jungle, sports and other theme quilts and get to try all kinds of patterns. I like to think that my effort gives some cheer to a child who has been damaged. Lutherwood takes in children from around 6-18. Sometimes we want to make a larger or smaller quilt and these we give to Coburn Place, a domestic violence shelter with some transitional housing.
I love this post! I love gifting quilts to people that appreciate them, but I like donating to charities too! The best of both worlds. My husband always asks me if we can keep every quilt, I always say no! I don’t want to be that lady with 300 quilts when I pass. I received my book earlier this week and I love it. Bohemian Rhapsody will be next on the cutting board. I love the stories behind each quilt.
I wish I was in your family. You’ve made several quilts that are on my list. I don’t post much, but it’s been fun to see your house come to life. It looks so homey.
I don’t have a long arm machine, so nothing ever gets finished. I have a pile of tops waiting for that big lottery win, but I never play. Guild quilt show is in March, so some are getting completed now. I usually finish the ones that are being given away. What a fun and inspiring post.
I have quilts al over the country side!! Some have just never made it home from my mom and dad’s (they use them so they must like them). Others I have given to friends. I have made a few as comforting momentos of loss ones. Share the joy is my motto!
I need to do this, too…maybe this post will inspire me! I just hate to give away my hard earned work…but either I can do it now, or my boys can sell them on eBay or an estate sale some day! I had planned to give quilts as my nephews/niece graduated. But, after my oldest nephew asked what he was getting for graduation…”a dumb quilt”, they received money instead!
Jo, it is lovely to see the big smiles of the recipients of your quilts. I love making quilts to give to my friends and family. I am fortunate to have a most delightful and generous sister in law who is a long arm quilter…she quilts my quilts for free! I have given sooo many away to my nieces, nephews, Mum, Dad, Godchildren and friends. I have only 3 completed quilts that are “ours”. One I made for my husband for his birthday last year…a jelly roll race quilt; one I made for our queen sized bed using Valori Wells Wrenly fabric and a postcard design; and a 25 block star quilt made using my favourite Lakehose fabrics!
I absolutely love our quilts but I also feel so much joy when I give someone I love a quilt I have made…it feels like I have given them a piece of my heart.
I agree with Karl they have to feel just right! I It was so good to see you the other day! BUT I forgot to ask you about purchasing a book! So please keep one for me for later!
I wish that you’d set up a separate Paypal account just for all of us to pay you for as many raffle tickets as we’d like to buy to take a chance on a quilt! Maybe you’s need to call it an opportunity quilt or something but it would be fun!
I have seven brothers and sisters, 3 SILs, 6 BILs, and 15 nieces and nephews. Not all of them have quilts yet, but my kids each have at least 2. Some day I hope they all get a quilt from me. I want to have a quilt show at my funeral where everyone brings the quilts I made them.
Jo,
There are very few quilts that I have kept for myself. If I keep one I have to put my husband’s name on it! I still only have less than six quilts at my home. Almost as soon as one is finished it goes to its new home…This week there are 3 quilts going to their new family whose home was burned to the ground…Always good to have a couple of quilts on hand.
I read somewhere about a mother, in the 1800s, who made ten quilts and two comforters for each of her children, and gave them to them on their wedding day. She had ten children !!!! And , no long-arm or rotary cutter – – congrats to her, and to you, for your generous giving.
I’ve given away the vast majority of those I’ve made, either to friends and family or as charity quilts. I have enough at the house for the kids to build some fantastic forts, but I don’t need that many taking up space – I love giving them away!
Your generosity has made many people very happy!
Hey! This is an awesome post. I love seeing all the quilts and knowing they are with people who will love them. On a slightly different note, how would one go about buying raffle tickets for that red/white one that was given for a fundraiser. I’d love to buy some tickets and have a chance to win that!
I’ve been thinking about what to do with all my finished quilts. Some of my unfinished tops have been sent to you to use as charity quilts. I need to go through all, finished and unfinished, and decide what to do with them. Thanks for your blog and the little push to get it done.
Most of the quilts that were chosen were favorites of mine also and are on my bucket list!! I went through a period of giving almost all of the quilts away that I made. But now all my flimsies (sp?) are ones I want to keep. But I guess I can keep them to look at and fondle for awhile and then give away! :) Thanks for all your inspiration and allowing us a glimpse of your life.
The smiles on your children’s faces says it all. I think it was great that you let them pick out their favorite. I make many quilts for gifts and for donation (especially to a local foster children); it is so incredibly rewarding.
I love that you shared these to see their faces while you CAN! So many times I receive unquilted quilt tops that were inherited and the person wonders about the history etc.
Every quilt I make I give away, I don’t have one for me yet. I don’t make the number of quilts that you make but it is always nice to know that you are giving them to someone who will take care of them Blessings Sandra
You are really a lovely person Jo. God’s blessings to you.
Oh My Goodness – what a treasure trove of beautiful, beautiful quilts! I just loved the picture of Karl and his quilt! Thank you for a wonderful blog today and the pictures!
How great that the kids and friends wanted your quilts – they’re off to good homes! Nice to see the quilts being loved by someone else. So many lovely choices and many memories shared and continued! I have made quilts for both my boys and now working on one for my daughter & her husband – they choose the pattern and make some color suggestions and then I have the fun of deciding and working a new project. Thanks for sharing your gifts & talents.
I don’t have near as many quilts sitting around my house. Mostly I give them away as fast as I can make them. I did have one that I just wasn’t sure what to do with it. A dear friend of mine was just diagnosed with breast cancer and had both breasts removed. She has been undergoing chemo lately and I woke up in the middle of the night a week or so ago and realized that I could cheer her up by giving her a quilt. I took it over yesterday and she loved it. The name of the pattern was “Blue Plate Special”. you can see it over on my blog.
Jo, I have quilts that my grandmother, mother, mother-n-law, sister and aunt made but I don’t have one quilt I have made. My husband has a memory quilt made from our deceased son’s jeans that I made. It seems I’m always behind on making quilts. One of my sisters and I quilt a lot together. We ake quilts for family events, i.e., weddings, graduations, births, and cancer survivors. We have seven brothers and sisters plus our husbands’s families so there is always a few special events happening.
Hmmm your BH quilts were the first to go!! ;) I am new (ish) to quilting. I have 21 quilts under my belt (many if those are baby quilts) I have not yet made a quilt I have kept for myself! I have Celtic Solstice flimsy ready to go and it will be for me!! On my bed!!! I just finished Grand Illusion …and gave it away to my Aunt!! I LOVE to give them!! Fills my heart!!!