I think if someone hung one of my quilts I'd feel like it was as loved as if they slept under it. My mom doesn't really sew. I can only remember her teaching me to sew. Never saw her sew one thing. She mended (a lot with 6 kids). But I'll tell you, if she made me a quilt I would first hang it on the wall to admire for a long, long time - before I considered putting it into "service". I want to be able to admire it for a long, long time. Because it's on the wall or packed away for "safe keeping" doesn't mean I love it any less.
I made each of my brothers and sisters quilts one year. A few years later, I was at my brothers house - and just so happened to see his quilt in the bottom of a muck bucket. I asked him if he ever used the quilt I made him, and he said his wife had put it somewhere and he hadn't seen it since the day he got it... (The day he got it...Wow).
I'm much pickier now about who I'll make one for.
And sorry about the sardine comparison, but that's just what came out of my head at the time... Go figure.