Good for you for speaking up. The man was probably so upset about the situation that he didn't realize how much love went into the quilts. I have the first quilt my mother made--started around 1927 and finished in 1964. I often take it out and look at it and remember her telling me that she had started it when she was away from home (Weetsatche TX) working as a domestic. She wasn't able to go back to it until she had finished raising five kids and living a very interesting and sometimes difficult life. It's a Grandmother's Flower Garden.