kamohen
I love your note and message to the new mother. Very thoughtful and appropriate! :thumbup:

A little trick I have started using is to send the quilt by mail with a return receipt requested. The reciever has to sign for the package. Then I know it has been recieved. (Rarely have I gotten any acknowledgement of the quilt.) It does make me sad :-( that people cannot take the time to say 'thank you.'

Good idea!

some people like quilts and others don't. i give quilts to people i know will enjoy receiving them as a gift and then the other people i buy them something they would like to receive.

i put a lot of effort into picking out someones gift, whether its a quilt i make or not, its a gift for that person and i want them to enjoy it.

i have done just about everything people are mentioning is wrong to do with a quilt.

i have a picnic quilt that i made that cost me at least $400 to make and that doesn't include my time. i've been thinking that the americana dear jane quilting i'm making will be great for a picnic quilt for the 4th of july.

i have made all my pets beds and many of them - about every 2 years they get new beds and snuggle sacks.

clearly, i would not be offended if the people i gave a quilt to used it in this way when i do the same thing myself.

i think its wonderful that they want to use the quilt instead of just sticking it in a closet never to be used.

if it gets worn out, i'm happy to make them another.

Me too! I wanted to reach through that monitor and bitch-slap the girl. I read somewhere that they couldn't get the dirt out either.

Maybe the problem I have is I am putting too high a value on my time, (which I would be shocked to know) & money (as I buy $9 yd fabric) before I consider who the quilt is for. I don't like to think there is a difference in who I make them for, but after reading about other quilters post I believe I do need to be more selective. There really isn't anything wrong with that.

Martina, this is so funny. I had the same reaction to that scene!

Last Christmas, my daughter convinced me to make a quilt for her boyfriend's mother. I had some blocks from a class that I was not "particularly" fond of and could part with them easier than with others. So, I made the quilt and it turned out very beautiful in the end. I later asked my daughter if the recipient would allow me to enter it into a show. She did allow this and when I picked up the quilt, she said "my dog had her puppies on it so it might need washing"........Like others have said, quilts sometimes are not as treasured by those who don't labor over making them......

That is an excellent idea! I also tend to get an appraisal if I'm sending a quilt through the mail. This protects me, in case the quilt is stolen, and I make a copy of the appraisal to send to the recipient. When my MIL got her quilt, she about passed out to learn that just the replacement value to make the quilt (not counting time or anything else) was over $900. The quilt is on her bed and I love seeing it used, but I don't have to worry that a quilt I spent almost 500 hours making will end up on the floor or dragged to the beach.


I was horrified too when I watched the movie. I can only imagine what the person who made it must have been thinking to see her work so disrespected.

If someone wants a picnic or beach quilt, I can do that. It won't be something I've spent hundreds of hours on though, nor will it be hand quilted, as those are quilts that I expect to stay inside and be used, not drug through the mud or dirt.

I love to quilt and love to share the results with others. That being said, I only give the labor intensive quilts made with premium quilt fabric to those people I am certain will appreciate the gift. For those folks I know will enjoy the gift but will never truly appreciate the workmanship, etc. involved I make a simple pattern with less expensive (or clearance), fabric. Bottom line - I want the quilt to be used, no point in it sitting in a drawer or on a shelf someplace; and giving them away somehow makes me feel less guilty about buying more fabric!