while i would love to see my quilts used everyday I would have trouble ifitwas abused like that. mine are mentv to last till the person gets all the love they need from it. beach use camping or even used to wrap up special items for a move are okay but keeping Boulder s from rubbing is not okay to me. hope that it was a cheep walmart one.

I'll eat a cookie on your behalf, as well! :D My mom had a collection of quilts that she, my grandmother, and/or my aunts had made over the years and was surprise the last time we visited that they were gone! She said that everytime she gives (or my dad makes) furniture for one of my siblings or their grandchildren, they carefully wrap it up in one of her quilts - and then keep the quilt, as well! Luckily I was able to secure two of her quilts - they were left in the camper that we bought from them!

I've seen the same sort of thing. I once went to a quilt turning where one of the quilts was badly damaged with a large tear because the owner's husband had used it to drag a heavy piece of furniture across the room. The quilt was an antique, and the appraiser said the tear had destroyed the considerable value of the quilt.. It's just ignorance but it is maddening. When I label quilts, I include instructions on laundering and care that I hope will convey some sense of the value but I don't have much hope. I've pretty much quit giving quilts as gifts after seeing so many of them abused and misused. I donate them as fundraisers sometimes, on the theory that if someone shells out some money they will take some care of the item. Most people simply don't value what they don't pay for.

i've had quilts i made used for covering furniture on the back of a truck-for a move, covering a wood pile from the winter weather, as a drop cloth working in a crawl space-
i just smile & sometimes shake my head---figuring that one is probably going to wear out
i do let everyone i give a quilt to that i expect them to use their quilts---how they choose to use them is their business-not mine- and when they wear out- i make them a new one.

I think this issue makes most of us whimper just a bit. First I am not a very productive quilter so all the quilts I make go to my family. I can SAY whatever they choose to do with them is fine but the fact is I hope they are used for the purpose I intended. I want them to be cuddled into, used until worn out, and in the best of all worlds, to be a reminder that I love the person I gave it to.

I like that your husband knows just what to say...

I am currenting eating a cookie and I dedicate it to your trauma and hope you get better soon.:) I too would be sad to witness such abuse.

I don't have a cookie, or I would eat one just because any reason is good enough in my book. I just want those people that I make a quilt for to be genuinely pleased that I thought enough of them to do it. It would make me happy to see it in their homes, even if the dogs sleep on it (of course, I love dogs and they are welcome to sleep on mine). I would be dissappointed to see it being used as a drop cloth, of course. Disclaimer - no show quality stuff coming from me any time soon, if ever.

I would be sick seeing a quilt protecting furniture in the back of a truck. When cleaning out my grandparents house, we used old blankets and towels with holes to protect furniture while it traveled. The quilts may have been used inside the vehicle for additional padding, but not toughing the furniture, nor exposed to the elements. I would even have trouble using a Walmart quilt, unless it were damaged, and couldn't be recovered.

Well, if it was a handmade quilt (not mass-produced) that is pretty horrifying, but I have to say, I make some of my quilts intending them to be used as picnic blankets or when we go camping. If I'm going to make something, I say use it and wear it out, and it will have fulfilled its purpose in life.

I helped my MIL make a quilt for my SIL who is a school librarian. SIL confessed to me, a little embarrassed, that she wasn't using it as a wall quilt as originally discussed, but put it in a comfy chair for the kids to snuggle with while reading. I laughed and told her good, I would rather it be used than hung on the wall, anyway.

But to soak up spills on a garage floor, or to cushion boulders is not use, but abuse in my book. But once a quilt is out of our hands, it's out of our hands. I try to think of it a sort of spiritual discipline, letting go and not getting too attached to material things.