I'm going to open up a can of worms with an example. My church has a quilting group that is mostly quite elderly. They only tie quilts (maybe 6-8 inches apart) and use donated fabrics. For the last few years they have made quilts for the graduating high school seniors. When my son got his, it wasn't bad. It had a bit of a pattern, and was appropriate for a young man. He used it happily to wrap up in watching TV. When my daughter graduated (one year later), all the graduates got random/scrappy quilts made of widely varying fabrics (knits, wovens of different weights), no pattern, absolutely just 4" squares sewn together with a backing of very thin fleece (no batting). The quilt wasn't bound, just serged with a gray thread. I love scrappy, but this is truly a dreadful quilt. It was also quite small, not big enough to use on a sofa. My daughter thanked the group for the quilt, but it ended up as a cat bed. I finally rescued it to leave in my car trunk, something I had recommended to my daughter.
I appreciate the elderly women who put together 4 quilts for the graduates, but did they ever even think of what might be useful/loved by the recipients? To give a gift that was thrown together does not leave the recipient thinking they are valued. It didn't help that the leader of the quilt group told the recipients (in front of the entire church!) that the group didn't have much time so they had thrown these together (really, a direct quote!). Oh well, rant off. At least I was proud of my daughter that she didn't react negatively in church and that she thanked them kindly.
Pam