Hi all,
This subject comes up everytime quilters get together. I learned long ago never to give a handquilted item to someone who wouldn't appreciate it or know how to care for it. I have three step=children and 6 grandchildren by them. I have made lots of throws and quillows for them over the years. Each item is machine peiced and quilted. My step-daugher is a nurse with two daughters. She isn't much of a cook but she sure knows how to do laundry. I made the mistake of giving her a machine appliqued quilt when she was sharing a house with other nursing students her last year in training. She actually washed the appliques off of it and they were fused and satin stitched. I made my youngest granddaughter a quilt when she was three or four and quilted it by using her name spelled out to hold it together. The poor thing thought everything in their home belonged to her older sister. I wanted her to have something that was truly hers.
If I make a quilted item for other members of my family it is usually a wall quilt that is not likely to get sat on or laundered.
I make lots of Linus quilts and throws and quilts for the military hospitals etc. I know that all of them will see hard wear and hard laundering. I usually put flannel or fleece on the backs of them and use the decorative stitches on my sewing machines to make them a little more festive.
I use the bed size quilts I have made and hand quilted in my home. I throw them in the washer and dryer. The only damage that any of them has sustained was when my husband caught one of them on a broken bed spring. If I can every match the fabric I will repair it. I made it back in the early 80s and it is somewhat faded. I am guilty of using a quilt as a coach cover right now. It is handquilted but it was made from a block of the month I won years ago. I never was that crazy about it and I did use it on my bed for several years until my color scheme changed. At this point the sofa needs protection from my cat more than I need that quilt.
Many of my quilt friends have made Baltimore Alblum quilts. I am not willing to work that hard and am running out of space to store quilts even if they are masterpieces. I purchased some of the fabric designed by Mimi Dietrich that looks like Baltimore Alblum work. I will get around to using it one day. I know Mimi personally as she is the founding mother of one of the two guilds of which I am a member. I have worked with her at the guild as I am the program chair. She is a great lady and really down to earth. She runs a year long class locally to make Baltimore Alblum Quilts. I may end up hand quilting some of them for people who made the tops but are not prepared to do the quilting.
My favorite quilts are either crazy quilts or white on whites. I have heard the white ones referred to as "mattress pads" but many of the unknowing public.
Life is to short to worry about what happens to my quilts when I finish them.
mpspeedy
Manchester, MD