I put a freshly made quilt on my coffee table at Christmas, it looked adorable there. I was horrified when my daughter in law sat down on the floor to eat on top of it!!! Thankfully no others followed suit.

I have made two quilted tablecloths for special occasion. I love using them outside when the wind is a problem, the heavier quilted cloths seem to not flip up as much than the flimsy ones. I then make sure I wash them in cold water and spray any spots before washing. I also do not put them in the dryer. I chose black and white and black and yellow for the color scheme for the quilted tablecloths. I hate having tablecloths hanging in my lap so by making my own to fit the tables I can measure to the length I like.

Hope this all made sense.

I think that using a quilt on top of a picnic table would be OK, if you place clear plastic over it. Every month, our Guild would have at least one quilt as a table topper for the "goodies", but it was always covered with a clear plastic sheet over it.

Well, is it really any different than using a crocheted table cloth? Yes they both take a lot of time/effort but if it is being used as intended so what! I would rather have something used and worn out than hidden away

I guess I am really weird, I use quilts as table cloths, quilts to picnic on, comfort quilts to drag around and feel good. When I was young the quilt my grandma made me went everywhere with me, camping, sleep overs, where ever I went it went. I was 47 when it finally became the dogs rug years after grand daughter "borrowed" it to go home in. That quilt lasted 40 years of love and good memories. I would much rather have that than a quilt that sets on a shelf or hangs on the wall. I think that is why I love quilting so much. The love and care my grandmother put into that quilt is why I quilt today.

That was one well loved quilt!
I use quilts as a table topper all the time. With just the 2 of us, it's less of an issue, although I have seen DH eating lunch with a newspaper under the plate of messy food! One thing I do frequently when the grands here is to flip the quilt over before I set it.

when we had guests for dinner and I forgot all about a table cloth, I used my husband's quilt…..it's all plaids and looked great! Of course, when he walked in the room he almost choked, but I told him….it's washable - don't worry! Adults and young adults at the table with no spills or stains.

I have some appliqued table toppers and some others that are pretty special, but they come off the table when food goes down. I have a lot of placemats that work well on picnic tables with just an old sheet underneath