I've wondered whose loving hands cut and pieced that nice Bow Tie twin quilt I bought in a yard sale. One young man said they were cleaning out the deceased grandparents' house...I got it for 10 measly dollars and it now keeps me warm when I'm sitting in my lazy boy reading. I wonder what she thought of as she sat sewing...I wonder how long it took her to make it..I wonder....I hope somewhere she knows someone loves it.

Lol i made a quilt that was really an experiment and in the last run of stitch in the ditch the needle must have hit the faceplate an snagged the back....so i just used it to practice FMQ LOL butterflys and bunches of grapes and folded freezer paper cutouts that you open up and stitcharound....it has some of everything... so i gave it to my SIL to carry in his car to cover his gitar and amp so they are not visible,etc.
but instead he has that silly quilt in the house on his favorite chair and takes it in the RV when they vacation it is in the drivers seat with him.....this from the person who i thought did not care about quilts...you just never know

:thumbup: Yeah for him!

That is a precious note, Ramona!! This is why our quilt labels are so very important!

Will they ever learn?

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't compare brussel sprouts and sardines to a handmade with love quilt gift..... In the spirit of the discussion, I don't like beer either. :)

I almost never make a present for anyone unless I let them pick out the pattern and the colors they want. I would hate to spend all that time working on something they might not like or use.

I agree with you. Why throw away something that could be given to a needy person, but still glad the quilts were rescued.

I never thought I would beinterested in quilting but my MIL gave my hubby and I several quilts when we got married and I still treasure them after 52 years,even though I need to rebind them. since I started quilting about 4 yrs ago,I appreciate the time and work that goes into making a quilt, big or small.
one should make at least one quilt in their life time.
d.swindle

So...did you end up with clean/dry dishes? Just kidding..of course!

LOL Sounds like something my hubby would do.

Fortunately, my DH appreciates and encourages my quilt making. Probably because then he doesn't feel so guilty about his model car collecting or golfing. I have heard many people say they can't understand why anyone would want to play golf. After all, they are just hitting a ball into a hole, picking it up and hitting it again. But avid golfers cannot live with out it. As for us quilters, yes we are cutting up perfectly good fabrics and sewing them back together, but we are avid about our craft and cannot live without it either. Therefore, to each his own. I always said that to my daughter when she was growing up when she made a snide remark about someone or something that she didn't like or understand. Boy, she hated it. when I said that.

Everyone is different.

I love quilts and my favorite is my grandmother's (deceased) leftover fabric quilt. I can see her blouses and many things she made/wore in that quilt. She taught my mom to sew and then my mom taught me. So it's special to me. Having said that if someone gave me a very traditional country style quilt I most likely wouldn't have it in my living room but folded and ready for use to keep warm. I can totally appreciate it and the work, of course, and country is lovely but it's not "me". I wasn't even the slightest interested in quilting until I saw watercolor quilts and portrait quilts. I have not done a portrait quilt but I LOVE the book.

Funny thing is I probably have given things to people/friends who REALLY like country but I didn't so they didn't get it. I don't mean as a formal gift just a off the cuff "here you go if you want it" gift.

Everyone's different.

You are absolutely Right! Everyone has his of her own taste, Leaves more for me! :D

I hand quilted a quilt and gave it to my MIL. She said thank you for the blanket. I got it back after two years she couldn't use it anymore. It is in the closet now and in poor shape. Thought of giving it to Goodwill. It has some bad memories with it and I really don't like the memories. Since then she gets a card and a box of candy for Christmas. The reason I gave it to her was to endear her to me and it failed. I don't put myself in that position anymore. Hurtd yo much to be slapped in the face. My Grandkids asked what kind of quilt they were getting for Christmas this year. I am not making them one this year and I told them that and they just looked to me like I had crushed them. So plan s for neew quilts for next year are in the works.

Sounds like the grandkids are the ones who want and will cherish the quilts.

It is wise to think about who will love and appreciate our gifts. I've debated making my mom a quilt simply because I know that she buys things so inexpensively that I'm not sure she would appreciate the time I put into one (and the money). However, I made my dad a John Deere quilt a couple of years ago and he uses it almost every day as his lap blanket! It isn't because mom doesn't love me. That simply isn't true--it is because she can buy things so cheaply at yard sales and such, that I'm not sure that the difference I would spend in getting the fabrics and making it would be appreciated by her. However...the truth is, I have most of the fabrics I would need in order to make her one. I probably should do it. :)

ok I feel like quilts are to be love if it is supposed to be on display put a sleeve on it before you gift it and make a hanger for the person of course if you do this if it doesn't go with their decor you will be in trouble....or worse Hurt

When I first started quilting 3 years ago (been sewing for 40 years but quilting is a completely different art form - I had attempted quilts before that but until I actually learned mine were not useable had 2 I donated that were ok and 2 I made that pretty much fell apart.... I made my two grandsons quilts and since my sons little boy was born (he is a year old now) I made him two quilts the boys drag them to watch tv they drag them to sit on the floor they sleep with them but they are loved and they know where they came from ... now to funny stories about the youngest of the two He's 3 and he was about 2 when he got his first quilt because I gave it to him at my moms he thought she had given it to him it took several months and me sewing on a label in front of him to convince him I made it - other story is I borrowed a small alien quilt i had made for him (he knew that one was from me) it was when I was doing show an tell about my long arm business and I needed a kids quilt to show - anyway after asking and take the quilt (he was ok until I tried to leave) I brought it back he comes in the room took one look at what I had in my hands grabbed it and ran off he came back a few min later no quilt - he had taken it and hidden it so I wouldn't take it again to say he loves his quilts in an understatement :-)

yes, make your mom the quilt. If not for her, for yourself. you will be glad you did....and I believe, she will appreicate it more than you realize.
Michelle

My DH used to think that way, until I reminded him that he takes perfectly good wood, cuts it up and puts it back together again in his workshop :-)

Is it wrong to say I laughed out loud at BellaBoo's comment about her husband... for like, five minutes maybe?

I don't have a husband but I can certainly see my Dad (God rest his soul) doing the exact same thing. My Dad wasn't one for knick-knacks and excess "stuff"... he believed everything should have a purpose. So he definitely would have grabbed a couple of fat quarters to clean off his golf clubs!! LOL.

i was visiting in tx and one of my friends kept making remarks that to me sounded like she didn't want me to make her a quilt for christmas after i'd mentioned several times that i was making her something. to top it off, as i was ready to leave she presented me with a wholecloth quilt that her mother had made and embroidered. she said she guessed she just really didn't appreciate it, and maybe i would. well, i got the distinct impression she didn't like, didn't want and wouldn't appreciate a quilt. wouldn't you have thought that, too?
so i flat out asked her, do you want a quilt or not? to my utter surprise she said she would love and cherish a quilt that i had made and would keep it on her bed every night! but she thought that i wouldn't have the time, energy and wherewithall to actually make her one. well, see? you never know unless you just get upfront and ask. of course, she's getting a quilt for christmas!

I have been lucky...so far all my family members love my quilts and ask me to make them one...I enjoy making them even though they are expensive. I do find that the lap quilts get the most use and love....I always use flannel on the back so its cozy. I also am trying to make more for the hubby and Me...and donate more of the quilts that I no longer use.

Really?? So you only want to know people who like all the same things you do? No variety?? :shock:

people who don't like quilts can still be good people. i know several people that like anchovies and i still let them be my friends. but we don't order pizza. non-quilt people are like that, too. you just don't make them quilts.

The difference of "gift" and "present": A gift is given to the person who wants the item. A present is what you want them to have. If my DH gave me a gun, that would be a present. If he gave me a new sewing machine, that would be a gift.

My niece is having another baby early next year and as soon as I know the sex she will get another quilt. This will be her 4th and she appreciates the quilts by hanging them in the child's room even though I told her they were to be USED that is what they were made for.

I think if someone hung one of my quilts I'd feel like it was as loved as if they slept under it. My mom doesn't really sew. I can only remember her teaching me to sew. Never saw her sew one thing. She mended (a lot with 6 kids). But I'll tell you, if she made me a quilt I would first hang it on the wall to admire for a long, long time - before I considered putting it into "service". I want to be able to admire it for a long, long time. Because it's on the wall or packed away for "safe keeping" doesn't mean I love it any less.

I made each of my brothers and sisters quilts one year. A few years later, I was at my brothers house - and just so happened to see his quilt in the bottom of a muck bucket. I asked him if he ever used the quilt I made him, and he said his wife had put it somewhere and he hadn't seen it since the day he got it... (The day he got it...Wow).

I'm much pickier now about who I'll make one for.

And sorry about the sardine comparison, but that's just what came out of my head at the time... Go figure.