zyxquilts

From Norah's comment in "The first quilt I made was...." topic, about people who don't appreciate quilts...
Way back when I first started quilting, we did a log cabin Christmas tree wallhanging in my quilt class. I thought, "This is terrific! A quilt small enough that I can actually make some for Christmas presents!" It was a fairly simple pattern, cream tone on tone background, green tree, brown tree trunk. Used Christmas prints, red & gold border, then tied some tiny ornaments on with some cream colored, skinny satin Offray ribbon. I thought they came out pretty cool! Gave one to my sister, she LOVED it (isn't it great to have creative sisters! :-) ). Gave the other one to my Stepmom for her & Dad's new 'snowbird' house in AZ. I thought she liked hers too, Dad loved it (he's a retired carpenter & can appreciate straight lines, lol, and HIS Grandmother was a quilter). Like I said, I thought she liked it...until one day, when Dad brought me some boxes of things that had been my Grandma's, for my sisters & I....and I found some of the things wrapped in that wall hanging!!! :hunf: Nice, huh? Also, in between when I gave her the wallhanging & this happening, she asked me to make her 2 identical twin bed quilts (big enuf for a full drop to the floor) in fall colors. I am NOT a fall color kinda gal, so it was tough. When I finished them (and I think she expected they would be a week's work), she accepted them from me....then tried to give them to my aunt! (I took them back & donated them to the local YWCA battered women's shelter) ahhh well, all's well that ends well. Live & learn.
Thanks for letting me vent! :D

sue

julie

Gosh, what an experience! But I know what you mean, my mom doesn't quilt, doesn't sew, thinks it's work. I get the feeling she's waiting for me to get over this "quilting thing", so I can do something "productive". I crocheted an afghan for her many years ago, and she lets the dog make his bed there. Oh well. I just don't make things for her anymore, but I wish I could and she would appreciate it.
Julie

zyxquilts

Now, I HAVE made a quilt for my cat - used the 'ugly' strips I won playing "STRIP POKER" at guild. But SHE appreciates it! LOL

sue

june6995

I half way expected something else, rather than what you wrote. What I heard you say is that some people have no idea how much work goes into a quilt. therefore, they do not value the part of you that you put into making the quilt. As a Mother, I am thrilled that my 2 non-sewing daughters value the quilts I have made for them. I feel your pain that you were not valued and appreciated for the time (and talent) that went in to making the quilts.

Now, on the other side, probably because of my age, I have had a bit of a problem understanding how a wall hanging can be a quilt. My personal definition of a quilt is a "cover" for on a bed. Wall hangings and place mats are items to be quilted, but for me, they do not qualify as a quilt.

Now I know I have just stirred the Hornet's nest, but I think I can take it. We all have our personal preferences in many areas, and quilting is one. Many years ago I thought a quilt had to be made by hand, so I had resigned myself to never making a quilt, until dear Eleanor Burns came on my TV screen and showed me they can be made by machine. She truly liberated me from that old idea. So who knows, maybe I will be liberated from the idea that a quilt it something to sleep under in the winter time so our slumber is cozy and peaceful.

Words from an old lady who enjoys making and giving quilts to keep people warm and cozy!... June in Cincinnati

Country Quilter

Yeah, June.... no hornets nest out of me...I've heard it all....I tie many of my quilts or machine quilt them and some people refuse to call them quilts because they are tied and not hand quilted! go figure!

Flying_V_Goddess

Wow. Just about everything I've read...no one appreciating what you create or the time you put into it reminded me of my artwork. Senior year I worked so hard to get my artwork "good enough" so that it could be displayed somewhere outside the school. I worked on my final for sculpting class (my last art class) for about two weeks. It was displayed up in the library with all the other sculptures and for whatever reason they were taken down. A couple of weeks later the sculptures were back up. You know what happened? While everyone else's sculpture got put back up mine got sent back to me. To add insult to injury, my friend (who I was furious at during that time because she was cheating on her boyfriend, also a friend of mine---but that's another story)...she had kind of half-@$$ed her final sculpture and worked three days on it...it was put up display at the Pump House Regional Center for the Arts in La Crosse and apparently sold for $20. So basically I planned and sculpted for two weeks just to have my artwork unappreciated and handed back to me by my teacher and somebody else taking the only thing I ever wanted (and that's when I decided not to go to art school).

So believe me Sue...I completely understand where you're coming from (you getting back your quilts reminded me of how I felt getting back the artwork I worked on). I just pray that never happens with any future quilts I make.

zyxquilts

I don't have a problem with your definition June, if we all looked at things the same way, how boring would the world be!?! LOL But, playing a bit of the devil's advocate - is the quilt I made for the cat still a quilt - since it 'covers' her bed - even though it's only about 18" X 24"? It is pieced, layered with batting & backing, quilted & bound. It's small, but it does cover a bed! :wink:
There's surely room for all of us, piecers, appliquers, tied quilts, hand & machine quilted, large & small! What the heck, I just learned last year that ever since there were treadle sewing machines, there have been machine-quilted quilts! I like to use that one with the "hand-quilt only" purists..hee hee hee! :lol:

sue

Rebecca Chambley

I made a quilt for my sister, about 13 yrs ago. I used some crochet motifs that had been handed down to me, from her husbands G-mother. I sewed each motif to a block and then made a quilt with the blocks, in her favorite colors, (my sister). At that time I only did hand quilting, so needless to say the quilt was hand quilted. I found out that she let her dog chew it up and then threw it away. I've never made my sister another quilt. But on the other side of the coin, The first quilt I made my daughter-n-law, Well her G-mother, (nanny) seen the quilt and sat her down and told her the value of a quilt, how to take care of it and how to treat it. She has 5 to date and begs for more. But the experience I had with my sister almost made me quit quilting, My feelings where hurt for along time, But I'm thankful I did'nt give into my feelings. I've been very pickie from that point on, Who I give my babies to.

vicki reno

I have been a quilter for over 20 years and just about everyone in my family has received quilts from me, be it baby quilts for heir new born, wall quilts oor bed quilts. What hurt the most was the year I spent months making a quilt for my mom. I used the grandmothers flower garden concept but just the center and one set of outer "petals'. I transferred a phot to each center piece. (back then, the only way to do it was heat transfer, but I did it--family photos in the cnete of each flower. She and my dad were on the very center flower. It was done in peaches and soft greens, the exact colors of her guest bedroom. She flew to NC for a visit one May, mothers day weekend. I was sooo excited I couldn't wait to give it to her. Well, she was polite enough while at my house, but once she got it home, stuck it in the closet. Its never seen daylight since. That hurts as much as someone misusing a quilt. But even more because it was done with a lot of love for her, hand quilted even--full size. So I send her flowers from the florist now and never a handmade gift!
Now I feel better because I got that off my chest. Thank You Friends!

june6995

This subject has brought up some painful memories. Each of you did what you thought was right and if your recipients (even Moms) don't appreciate your gift. You know, in your heart, that you did the "right": thing, because it was your own personal desire to make a gift of love.

We pass through this life with lots of hurts and others seldom seem to know how much pain they cause. This, for me, equates with an unfaithful husband. You have done all the right things, been loving and kind and bared your soul, and then they tromp on your feelings. I know that one from experience. I will never feel the same toward the man who nearly destroyed me. But, we are WOMEN and we know how to move past this stuff and go on to bigger and better things. ONWARD!!! Venting helps.

Each of you is a precious woman in her own right. Others will see your value and you will be blessed.

I wish for each one of you the Very Best of this day.

June