Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Do I Know My Own Worth? Where The Rubber Hits The Road

So, you know about Hunter's Design Studio's We Are $ew Worth It theme, right? Or perhaps you know the concept of We Are $ew Worth It better for Molli Sparkles' post about No Value Does Not Equal Free, where he talks about the cost of making a quilt and does a very handy little spreadsheet to calculate it.

The rubber has just hit the road for me. A friend has offered to buy The Promises Of Spring since I mentioned in another blogpost that I was wondering what to do with it:

Promises of Spring

So, what is this quilt worth?

As noted in the post by Hunter's Design studio, this is an entirely different value to what I can get for it. I can do some rough maths to work out a value for the quilt, probably using Molli's template. However, the sale of the quilt poses a question about how I value myself - which, frankly, is the more challenging question. Numbers are easy; self-worth is difficult.

The question I have is how to approach this. Do I put out a spreadsheet laying out the price of the effort I put in (approximated because I didn't bother to record how long it took)? Do I just give her a number and wait for agreement or disagreement? Do I say "this is how much it cost me to make, this is what I'm happy to sell it for"? The friend is buying it for her daughter, and if she's not rolling in it, she's not destitute either.

I'm more than happy to gift a large portion of it - I've given quilts before and not said how much they cost; I've indicated how much quilts cost in casual conversation, but I've never had to have the conversation about how much my quilts are WORTH. And it's one thing to know that my 'hobby work' should be valued as much as my 'office work' (for which I am paid in easy excess of $50/hr) - certainly my 'hobby work' has brought considerably more pleasure to myself and others than my 'office work' tends to - and yet another to actually sit down and value my efforts.

It won't be easy. But maybe it's time.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Q3 proposed finishes (Finish Along)

Goals for Q3 set!


To Complete

1. Never Did The Quiltmath

Not convinced this quilt is going to work quite the way I envisioned... #neverdidquiltmath


2. Elizabeth In Wonderland

#saturdaynightcraftalong with @barefootcrafter


3. Friendship Supernova

Q3 finish along


4. Large Log Cabin

Finish along 2016 Q2


5. Lounge Room Side Curtains

Q3 finish along


Again, somewhat unlikely to complete all of them given that I'm away for a month in July, but with the best of intentions nevertheless!

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Q2 Finish-Along: Valley of the Kings


So, I got a few things on my Q2 Finish Along list off the list - the first item and the last item!

7. Valley Of The Kings

I've had this on my to-do list for far, far too long. I'm glad it's out.

IMG_20160410_155713

Now I just have to get it quilted and sent off to the original recip. Or else gifted somewhere!

LInking back to the Q2 Finish Along!

Q2 Finish-Along: The Snowflake Quilt


So, I got a few things on my Q2 Finish Along list off the list - the first item and the last item!

1. The Snowflake Quilt

This is me standing in front of it as it hangs in the Sydney Quilt Show:

Quilt Show 2016

This was entered in the Open Amateur part of the show, and titled "The Promises Of Spring" with the blurb: Every winter's flake carries the promise of summer within it.

And for a slightly better image of the quilting:

Promises of Spring

Yes, I quilted it myself. The block was designed by Madame Parfait several years previously - the 'Rainbow Blossom' block, and I posted a tutorial for making the block back about three years ago, which I used to make these blocks. However, I've since had someone draft me a foundation paper piecing pattern, and as soon as I get back from my holidays, I'm going to turn it over to pattern testers and probably release it through Make Modern Magazine.

Linking up to the Q2 Finish Along!