Originally Posted by Sewmuchtodo
I love creating and sharing with others, however now I am hesitatant to do this when it comes to quilts. My grandson is engaged to a sweet young lady, and I would love to make her a lap quilt. However the last quilt that I made it for my granddaughter. She was 17 at the time. I spent quite a while creating the quilt. Well, I was over at their house one day and while going out to the back patio I spotted her quilt just laying on the ground outside. It was quite apparent it had been there for a while. I was hearbroken, to see how it was disregarded. Ever since then I am unable to bring myself to commit to gifting a quilt. I keep trying to get past it, but it is so hard. I would love to make more quilts but I just keep thinking about the work and the lack of appreciation. Any suggestions on how I can get over this? This is the quilt that I made for my granddaughter..thanks for any suggestions.
I have exactly the same reservations as yourself. I made a few cushion covers a few years ago to help my children's school raise funds. I mentioned to the lady who was organising it that they could ask for about £15 for the complete cushion. When I went to have a look at them in the stall, they were going for £5 each and later a few of them were put aside for the staff to take away for free! Needless to say, I never gave anything away for free to anyone for fund raising again!
I have made a number of quilts since, mainly for colleagues and friends who are having babies and I always say to them that I have spent time making them and if they do not want them after a while, I would gladly take them over for £5-10,( that is, I would pay to have them back!) and I would drive out to collect them. This is just a little incentive to make sure my efforts will not be wasted. Also if they rip, I ask them to return the quilts to me for repairs. Every so often I follow up on them.
It is hard to part with these lovely creations especially since there is so little regard from some but I sometimes think that people do things without realising the significance but if you can talk to them and mention your thoughts about things, they may 'wake up'. Your grand daughter was young and some young adults do things without thinking.
Having said this, I do agree with some of the earlier messages where once given away the quilts don't belong to us anymore but to the person who was given it and what they do is up to them but I think that it is the lack of tact/respect that is hurtful and that may be the issue here.
Would you be able to speak to your grand daughter and ask if you can have it back to see if it can be salvaged? I think that if I were in your position, I would ask if I could have a look to see if it needed some TLC. Would that make it feel less hurtful? Only you can answer the question.
I think that, like you , I have to remember that everyone is different. Perhaps you can gauge by your grandson's fiance's reaction should you mention your intention to make her a gift of a quilt.
Recently I said to my colleagues that I was thinking of making a few small pieces for each of them and one of my colleagues was thrilled to bits! I certainly was not expecting her enthusiasm! I was bowled over. LOL. So I know that she will look after what I make her.
Best wishes. I hope that things will be better for you soon. Please let us know how things get on. Take care.
(Sorry for the LONG message :lol: )