On the other hand...
I made a special quilt for my friend's young daughter fully expecting that the quilt would be dragged through the mud, slept on by the cat, used as a tent, and basically loved to death. However, what happened is that my friend, who does cross-stitching and appreciates the time spent on handmade items, put the quilt away for the time when her daughter would be "old enough to enjoy it with responsibility".
Years later when I found out what happened to the quilt, I was disappointed to find that the quilt wasn't thread bare and that it hadn't been used at all but kept in a closet for 'safe keeping'. I understood my friend's idea of keeping it in a special place so that it wouldn't be abused, but that wasn't what it was made for -- it was made to be loved. To this day it still hasn't been used.
My mom has kept such unused items in her hope chest for years. She is now 88 years old and the things will not be used in her life time, as she now suffers from alzheimer's disease. Of course, I will be the lucky recipient of the handmade gifts that she was gifted over the years and I WILL enjoy them.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my mom about 20 years ago. I was looking at her china cabinet and marveling at the beautiful tea cups and dishes that she had and asked my mother why she never used the pretty china? She said that she didn't want anything to get broken. With tongue-in-cheek, I thanked her for keeping my inheritance in such wonderful condition and said that when I used it after she was gone I would always think of her. A couple of weeks later I noticed that she was using a beautiful bowl from the china cabinet for holding fruit. I thought, "ahh, my comment hit its target." Unfortunately, it was short lived, after that she put it back in the china cabinet and never used anything else in the cabinet. Very sad, indeed.