As a child, I slept under a full bed size quilt made by my grandmother (a Sunbonnet Sue but I always thought of it as a little Dutch girl, for some reason). It eventually wore out and my mother discarded it (I assume; her mother made many quilts and so she probably thought nothing about throwing a tattered and shabby quilt away). I'd give anything now, that I'm also a quiltmaker, if I had that quilt, or even a remnant of it. There are no pictures, so all I have is my memories, which are very sharp; I still remember the fabric as well as the pattern.
So I understand both camps: those who want to save quilts, and those who say use them. I'm glad we used that quilt --it was a big part of my childhood -- but I wish, too, that I still had it, especially since it's the only quilt I remember that my grandmother made (though she made many, none survive).