I loved the day my brother called me to see what it would cost him for me to make his youngest son another quilt since he had loved the first one "to death". He was so excited when I told him that I had made one for each of his four sons for Christmas that year.
My daughter has a whole box of my quilts set aside that she has "claimed" for when she moves out again. I have to go through the stack of finished projects (about 3 feet high) and give them to appreciating friends and family.
I was thoroughly disappointed when I gave quilts to my husband's family one year for Christmas - I had spread out all my quilts on the pool table on Christmas morning and let them pick the one they wanted to take home with them - not one thank you from the bunch! Those were the last quilts they were given. I found the one my mother-in-law had taken in the closet after she passed. It is on the back of my sofa in the family room and gets used often.
My son has only taken one quilt - it has been used "to death" and he definitely needs a new one. I will have to make it a point to get together with him and see what he wants for a replacement. He isn't in to the scrappy ones I make the most of so his are always a special project. The one he has now is a Snail's Trail. I attended a class in Sisters, OR one year and it took me another three years to finish the project - it has over 4,000 pieces in it and was a bugger to piece. He chose black/white for it and we had it quilted with yellow thread - it was prettier than I thought it would be when we got it back - that was so many years ago ...
I have a scrapbook of all the quilts I have made and I just love going back and looking at the thank you cards that I have been given - especially the ones from kids - that they wrote/drew themselves.
So ... to all of you quilt recipients ... please make sure you thank the giver, they have put many hours of work and love into your gift ... and all we really want is to know that you appreciate it and will use it "to death".