My first auction is coming up

[Diana U.]

A friend asked me to donate a quilt or a quilt-related basket to her church auction to support an upcoming missions trip to China. She and her daughter are going on the trip. I had three weeks to come up with something. I thought I could "whip up" a lap quilt using squares and rectangles of complimentary fabrics, put on a wide border, and have a friend stipple quilt it. It sounded so quick and easy. While I was rummaging around to find enough appropriate fabric, I came across some 4 1/2" squares I had pieced in a "Block Buster Quilts" workshop I took with Margaret Miller about 5 years ago. I could never lay out the blocks to suit me, so I just put them away. Well, with my 5 more years of "expertise", I began playing with them and stopped when I got to about 20"x20". What a perfect "artsy" little wall hanging! My husband said, "You really need something for the center - it's boring." Well, a lot he knows!! But I thought about it for a little while and thought that just maybe he had a point. I went to my bin of flowers and the fabric right on top was PERFECT! I fussy cut a flower, fused it down, and it's the prettiest little quilt I've ever made (in my oh so humble opinion). I filled out the slip to submit with the quilt, and there was a line for "value". I put "Priceless". Visa (or MasterCard or whoever), eat your heart out!!

Obviously, this has nothing to do with auction "advice", but I would like to have some advice on RAFFLING off a quilt for an organization. An AUCTION will bring in a small amount because only one person is going to pay for it. A raffle can bring in a lot of money since each person only contributes a dollar or two, but there can be hundreds of people involved. It's a church-affiliated raffle, and I don't want to involve the local secular quilt groups, or then they'd be inundated with other church groups. Has anyone raffled off a quilt for a church or missionary group before? How do you get a lot of people involved? How do you advertise? Thanks.

Grammy Pat in Spokane

[Diana U.]

One of the members of our guild owns a Christian Book Store. She hung our guild raffle quilt in her shop for a month and sold tickets for it. When we moved it to another location, we made sure she had a large photo poster of the quilt and lots of tickets to sell. In your situation, maybe you could hang your quilt in the narthex of some other local churches and give other denominaions a chance to help with your mission. Check other small business retailers. They often like something unique in their stores to draw attention. We gave free tickets to those who were willing to help our cause. Good luck, I hope you earn a bundle of money. Betty Ann

[Diana U.]

Our guild has an every-other-year quilt show, and our raffle quilt tickets are being sold for more than a year before the show. We sell the tickets for $1, or 6 for $5, since lots of folks like a "bargain". We hand out small pictures of the quilt to the members so that they can show the quilt to the folks they're selling tickets to. We try to find as many local events as possible that will let us set up the quilt and sell tickets. The funds from the raffle, after expenses for the quilt materials, printing tickets, and pics, are dedicated to local charitable groups.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Diana U.]

The best place to sell raffle tickets is at a Quilt Guild meeting. Our guild always shows our raffle quilt at other guild meetings and allows other guilds, churches, schools, or any other non-profit organization to show a quilt and sell tickets before or after the meeting.
I am in two guilds, and one year I showed smaller guild's quilt in the lobby at a meeting where Ricky was the featured speaker. I sold 350 tickets that night!

[Diana U.]

One more thing, be sure you check out your state's laws on raffles.

Pat in Rockport, TX

[Diana U.]

I've been thinking about which would generate the most money for a quilt, an auction or a raffle? I think it depends on factors such as how long the quilt is available for display, the event where & when the quilt will be raffled or auctioned, the number and type of people (for example, art patrons, quilters, high society, etc.) who could potentially participate in the raffle or auction, and the quality and theme (for example, a theme specifically related to the event ) of the quilt.

I'd be very interested in hearing others' thoughts or experiences regarding this matter.

Thanks!