Have you heard about the innovative data base that has been recently developed, by one Australian Patchwork enthusiast, to help identify and secure your treasured quilts?

"Dear Quilters,

We have all had the worry of losing quilts and making them identifiable has been a problem, no one can claim that the "stolen" quilt is a copy or that it was a gift from a friend.

Quilts are very expensive and the loss is usually devastating to the maker.

Not any more. I have set up a data base and am able to supply a microchip that can be sewn into the quilt, that will ID your quilt when scanned by any ID scanners, each quilt will enter a data base with a photo , a specific number on the microchip, name and address of owner and stored in a file.

A copy of the registration will be supplied with the quilt and this can be transferred when quilt is either sold, donated or given as a gift.

The National Quilt Register
Leesa Lewis
PO Box 70
Cambrai
South Australia   5353"

"....I am surprised that so many people have contacted me over this. so I have set up a PDF that explains what is needed and the cost involved. (See below)

Insurance companies are looking at it as a way of determining the value of a quilt when lost, stolen or destroyed in a fire and a copy of the registration certificate can be attached to you home contents policy.

I have been asked by a number of members if the Guilds are involved, that is entirely up to each state, and I need the Guilds to contact me, if a customer wishes to have it on record that they belong to a guild, I need the guild to give me the permission to put it on the certificate and it would also be able to supply a valuation certificate for the cost of the quilt.

A quilt can cost from $100 to several thousand dollars and this is one way of helping identify your quilt.

The cost is not over the top for peace of mind and it will settle disputes over who owns the quilt as already I have been told that a particular quilt was stolen in NSW, when found the "new" owner claimed that she had copied it from a photo and was allowed to keep the quilt as the pattern was widely available. The system I have will ID each individual quilt and that quilt can legally be transferred to new owners.

As for The Quilt Register, a couple have said it was expensive, until I mentioned that: material for quilt $100 - $400, top professional quilting from $100 plus, valuations range from $500 to several thousand dollars each and some are priceless due to a memory and it is a one off payment, this register will be available long after my lifetime vbg... so it is not dear at all for peace of mind. Any quilt that travels around the countryside via post should be micro chipped, as when lost the Aust post now can trace them and search homes via police."