After recently reading a not so favorable guide by a fellow eBayer I felt that I would drag out my soap box, and take an attempt to set the record straight. What was not mentioned is the quilts are in fact machine pieced and assembled in Kentucky, just like granny does. They are then shipped to China to be hand quilted. Donna’s company made this decision to help keep her quilts affordable. To call them a Made in China Quilt is not even remotely an accurate statement, and to dismiss the Donna Quilts as an option simply because they are HAND quilted in China is ignorant.

Lets compare apples to apples.

We all love an honest to goodness hand made quilt, and nobody will ever argue the fact that a hand made “by Grandma” quilt is not far and away superior to a factory made quilt, thats not even a contest. Of course Grandmas quilts are better! Even many of the poorly made, but self made quilts (not everybody is a born quilter) I have seen all have a superior value because they were made by, and given to loved ones. Why would anybody make the mistake of comparing a factory made quilt to a handmade quilt? Apples to apples.

I dont know about the rest of you, but I LOVE QUILTS. Grandmas quilts are stuck safely away out of the light, wrapped up and in a chest for safe keeping. Fort Knox couldnt guard my quilts any more safely. These quilts only come out on special days. Christmas, Turkey Day, and when family comes in from out of town. They get the honor of sleeping under Grandmas quilts. Other than that NO WAY would I allow the chance of a beloved quilt getting ruined.

On the other hand, the factory made quilts have a day to day role in my house. Firstly, I GET TO HAVE A BEAUTIFUL QUILT ON MY BED EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK! That is the biggest thing, I get to enjoy something I love on a daily basis. They are works of art too. Have you really ever taken the time to examine one, or did you just put your nose in the air and walk out the door when you saw the “Made in China” tag? But, if and when the dog jumps up on the bed and scratches a hole, or if the new kitten has an accident (happens to everybody right? of course it does) and my factory quilt is ruined, well, that is a total bummer, but ya know what? It isnt the end of the world. What would you do if that happened to your award winning Paducha quilt that you paid $2000 plus. You would probably feel like jumping in the same hole that you just buried that quilt in. Well, actually it would never happen because your quilts are all safely secured, and only come out to view or on special occasions…

Next, not everybody has a family member that quilts, and not every one will be privelidged enough to be given one as a gift. Not everybody can afford to buy an Amish quilt that starts at $1000. Not everybody is able or willing to make that sort of investment, not everybody is willing to take the time to learn to quilt. To those folks that think your quilt market is falling away because of the factory quilts. Sorry, you couldnt be more wrong. We offer both the made in USA Amish quilts, locally made machine quilted quilts, and the imported quilts. We offer these choices in both of our two stores. All have marketability, and all have an individual customer base. Probably the biggest problem we have in the quilt market isnt even related to imported quilt This problem lies with selling Amish quilts and there small size. Generally the Amish folk quilt for their own full sized beds. Entirely too small for todays over stuffed King sized beds. Second biggest problem we have is finding quality handmade quilts. I have seen a few self proclaimed hardcore “Quilters” ask to Consign their work in my store. I have seen less knots on ships, and wondered to myself if that person was a tad tipsy during the actual quilting process. How do you tell somebody nicely “thanks, but no thanks, your work is junk” Happens more than you might think. Not every home made quilt glitters like gold.

To sum it up. Each quilt has its own client base, I for one am very happy to be able to provide my customers with a huge quilt base. I love the fact that people are litterarly blown away when they walk into one of our stores for the first time with a row of 100 quilts in all shapes, sizes, and colors and if it was not for the imported quilts from companies like Donna Sharp (FYI Quilts by Donna is now Donna Sharp) all I would have is a dozen quilts at any one time. Where else could you go on a day to day basis and get to see something like that?