I work at (2) local funeral homes and since working there I see the waste in funeral flowers, especially the casket flowers which cost several hundred dollars..soooo....I decided I would quilt me a quilt to go on my casket and my family can take it home with them. Has anyone else thought about doing this??? I know we don't like to think about death, but it is coming to all of us.

I have thought about that actually. I was thinking about making one for my grandma when she passes away. save my parents loads of money on those flowers.

I made a lap quilt for a friends mother..they used it on the kneeler rail at her funeral. I really was honored that they would do that. I agree that flowers are so expensive and do not last.

I would think some of the bed runner patterns would work good for that.

what a wonderful and thoughtful idea

Bed runners is a good idea; mine is more lap top size..

when my daughter's newborn died, i made two small quilts. one was buried with the infant and one went home with the family. it now has a proud place on the wall with the pics of the other 4 kids.

Friends did this for their Mom several years ago.
And since then, several others have followed with one or several quilts on display!

At another funeral this past spring, the lady had been working on a quilt, with one block left to finish. They had the quilt at the funeral, and the one last block in her hand in the coffin. Since then her DIL completed the quilt for her. Then her husband (son of) decided it HAD to be shown at the Fair, just as Mom always would have done so. And so it was, winning a ribbon!! What a beautiful story, and perfect ending!! :)

As a sidestep here ... when my husband died, I didn't have the traditional casket spray, rather chose a milker with a bouquet worked in the top of it. We set it on the floor right next to the casket!! His tombstone is not traditional either ... rather an oversized rock from our farm that I had mounted, and with an engraved cow, and our farm name. The traditional details are on mounted on the base.

At my brother's funeral, they did a combination of both...a quilt that I had made him to use while he was getting chemo, and some flowers that picked up the colors in the quilt...but not a large arrangement, just a small one and it looked really nice.

Here in So. Jersey, most people choose to send most of the baskets of flowers to area nursing homes (as well as to churches if it'll be close to a Sunday service)...so at least the flowers are given the chance to be enjoyed be others...the spray of flowers across the top and/or the inside from the immediate family are left to blanket the top of the grave...but I also love the idea of a small lap quilt to go on your loved one...Naomi