Use or preserve baby quilt
 

I have made a number of baby quilts for babies born in my family, and there are two I made for babies that I was paid to make. The grandmother told me that her grandson loves his quilt and drags it everywhere - I am glad I machine quilted it! I just made her another one for a soon to be granddaughter, and I feel good knowing these quilts are really loved. My nephew's wife has packed away the baby quilts I made for their children. When the children are grown, they'll probably say to Mom, what do I need this for, and even maybe - who is this lady? And the quilts will end up in a thrift shop, or as a rag.

Which quilts do you make that make you feel good - the preserved ones, or the wore to the nubs ones??

I like to have my quilts used. I will normally say to the person when gifting that it was made to be used! However, what they do with it is up to them. I just like to make sure that they know I won't be offended if I go to their house and the child is dragging the quilt around.

my DIL said they were so nice she was going to hang them. never did. nor used them as far as i know. Didn't match her decor?

i make all of my quilts to be used and loved

I have baby blankets for my kids that were made by my grandmothers. They were used & are now tucked away for future generations.

I want mine used! And fortunately they all have been.

I worked in a small inpatient dialysis unit. Surprise pregnancy (older children 16 and 13). Each nurse I worked with made a quilt block and another put them together quilted it. It is so beautiful and 28 years later sits in my closet. I planned on giving it to my son when he got married and had children. His new wife is a new attorney and doesn't wants kids though will think about it in 5 years and maybe have 1. When they buy a house, I will still give it to them. Should of used it when he was a baby. I made a quilt for dgd and her dad ( my oldest son) didn't want her to use it. I said to please use it as I can always make another.

I made my first greatgrand daughter several quilts, one of them was all hand embroidered. My Granddaughter used all of them, but the one with embroidery was used at her dedication, then hung in her nursery. I was ok with that.

I want them used - but I do cringe when I feel they are being abused.

The ones that are used until they are in tatters. Quilts in the closet don't make memories.

I made one recently and was told it would be hung on the nursery wall. I personally hope the recipient changes her mind, I did make a comment that it was made to be used and constructed so that it could function as a working quilt. I did reason with myself that I had enjoyed making it, enjoyed gifting it and, now it was not mine, I have to accept that the recipient should enjoy the freedom to do as she wishes with it.

When I gift a baby quilt, I send along a little poem called "It's Your Quilt". I didn't write it, but found it somewhere on the internet. I hope that it is used.

Absolutely. I tell people I make quilts for if they want to hang it on the wall I'll make it a wall hanging. Let the kidlets wear out the quilt then I'll make another. The best memories coming out of the closet are the worn out quilts; you know they were loved.

Cari

Well used and loved!

perhaps the folks whose quilts got packed away will get them out and treasure them as adults, and hand them down to their children. The ones worn to death may not make another generation of use! I know I treasure everything that got handed down to me by my mother and grandmother, and DH's family too. Some of it - embroidered table linens was one thing I recall - had never even been used. Well, I have made valences and curtains with them and they are adorable, and some of them I have simply worn out! You may be long gone and some descendent will be saying what a cute quilt!

The highest praise i ever got was from my niece. I made her a flannel blanket/quilt when she was 6....12 years later all that was left of it was a square about 18x18". It had been dragged everywhere and washed goodness knows how many times. My mom mentioned that she still (at age 18) slept with the "rag" under her pillow. I made her another - with much better flannel as close to the original as i could find - and she screamed walked around the house with it wrapped around her.
BUT....i have another friend who hung the quilt i made on the wall of her son's room - it's been there for 7 years - even though his decor has changed, he wants the quilt there.
Both make me happy.

I want them to be well-loved, whatever form that takes. If they end up in the mud, I am sure they will survive the wash.

My DD had a simple quilt from my mom. She wore that thing out but kept it. After she had her first child, she passed on to him. Her DH said boys should not have blankies. So, I cut it up and made Spike, a stuffed dinosaur. At 20 yrs he still has it in his closet. No longer red and blue. Kinda of drab yuck. Still loved. Those are the kind of quilts I make now.

I made a quilt for my niece that I'm pretty sure never got used. I assume it's tucked away in her closet, but I haven't seen it since I gave it to my sister; although I love her dearly, I'm still a bit hurt, 9ish years later. On the other hand, I made a quilt for my cousin's baby, and got a note saying how much they liked it, along with a picture of his little girl playing with it.

That's my philosophy too. That's how quilts have always been treated in my family - I have a whole bunch of memories of my favorite childhood quilt often serving as a cape or a tree-branch tent; it was quicksand or lava, it was part of forts, it was the scene of many tea parties and picnics... The backing and bindings got replaced, the embroidery mostly vanished, and finally at some point in my early teens it got put up and I didn't see it again until I was an adult.

I have it now, in its tattered and stained glory, and it's amazing the memories that flood back when I spread it out to look at it and refold it periodically. I'm really glad my mom hung onto it for me.

I'm flattered when people say my quilts are "too good" to use...but also a little crestfallen. I (gently) argued my sister into letting herself and the kids use the quilts I made for them for Christmas a couple years ago. It was finally telling her that keeping them folded and tightly stuffed into pillowcases was going to eventually ruin them anyway that did it. So now they all drag my quilts around and I couldn't be happier. :)

Besides, if they never use them, they'll never use them UP and then how will I find an excuse to make them another?

i make my quilts to be used and loved

So many of the young mothers are urged not to use quilts in the crib with young babes as a precaution against SIDS. I feel that may be why baby quilts are often stored away or hung on the wall rather than used. Thus, I prefer to make my gifted quilts either smaller, suitable for use in the car over a car seat, or larger, suitable for the toddler who is finally moving to the "big kid bed".

Definitely used - there are a few baby quilts that are really worn out now. I guess I should make new quilts for those "babies."

I make quilts to be used and loved. I want kids to drag them around, use as a park quilt or whatever. I want them loved. Please don't put my quilt up in a closet to "save" for later. I don't intend to make heirlooms.

As for babies, I tell parents to toss mine on the floor for baby tummy time. If it gets spit up on, wash it!

I always tell people to use it, i'll make more.

Just got re acquainted with a cousin and now I have an outlet for my quilty stuff. She's crazy over the stuff i make.

When I make quilts for the kids of my family, they are given with very strict instructions that they are to be USED, and that they will not get another one unless the previous one is worn out ! LOL needless to say, they are all well used and abused , and I like it that way !

I have made beautiful ones that hang up and also used...both are being used....isn't artwork on the wall used? For my first and "special" great nephew I made a quilt that turned out so adorable...Noah's ark...that is is hanging on a rod...then I made him another one to cuddle with...

I, too, make them to be used/loved. The latest one I made for a friend is hanging over the baby's crib. Guess that's where the new one I'll be starting for his little brother will end up as well. I tell folks they are made to be used, puked on and pooped on, on the floor, whatever. That's what washing machines are for. Not sure how many actually get used that way, however.

Ah, so many "things" packed away and never enjoyed. The China, the silver, quilts, ....all waiting for......when? That rainy day?

My friends' MIL passed when in her 80's. Dee has her complete set, never used glass dishes still in the oiginal box from the 1930's. use the quilts.

Sandy

I try to make my baby quilts bigger, for babies to grow into. When I gift them, I include a note which is written from the quilt's point of view asking to "please use me, love me let me used to make forts in the living room on rainy days and taken along on backyard campouts. I want to be worn out with love" My sisters are really good about using the quilts I've given their children, and I recently visited the neighbors, and found their baby's quilt in the corner of the living room with some of their child's favorite toys. The quilt has obviously been washed a few times. Makes my heart sing to see them use it.

I expect mine to be used.

I love them used but want the recipient to use it as they want to enjoy it. My granddaughter got attached to the one made for her mother when she was a baby. She wouldn't give it up and dragged it around so much we patched it until we couldn't anymore. It was like a rag when she got done with it , but we got such enjoyment out of her attachment to it. Can't remember how old she was when she finally parted with it, but the last of it was used to bury her favorite dog when it died.

I kept the quilt my daughter's great grandmother made and have saved it for her. I made her a couple of quilts she could drag around. I am soon to be a grandmother so my daughter will get her great grandmother's quilt back and I will make new drag around quilts for the grandchild.

I agree! It is a compliment to me when they're used. Made two for a friend's grandchildren. They take it outdoors and use it to sit on for 'tea parties.' What could be better than that?

....not quilts usually, but crystal, china, etc., all lined up on shelves at any goodwill store, unfortunately........

Once a gift is given, it is no longer yours. I want mine used. But if I see it is abused, I don't give another. Simple and saves a lot of heartache. Several receive cash as gifts.

When I made an alphabet quilt for a friend of our son's, I didn't know them very well, but knew she was a grade school teacher, they had a lovely newly remodeled home and this was their first child. I didn't want them to stick it in a closet if they had a "planned nursery" decor, so I made this label. She started to read it out loud, then choked up and couldn't finish. Later we got a note that said they used it every day, outside and inside. I was grateful I let them know it was okay to "use".
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...d=492802&stc=1

I like them to be well used. I gave a quilt to my sister for her Yorkie when he was just a pup. He used the quilt everyday and knew it was his. Whenever she would wash it and he would see her come in the room to bring it back to him, he would get so excited and start wagging his tail and start jumping around because he missed it so much and was so glad to have it back in his bed. He loved it so much. He recently passed away, and my sister said she will be keeping his quilt as a keep sake in his honor, after about 15 years of everyday use. She recently adopted another Yorkie, named Bitty, and I am making a quilt to give to her in about three weeks when I go visit. I'm sure it will be loved and used as well.

I've told my daughters-in-law to use the quilts, I can make more.
Best feeling in the world was when one 4 year old, sitting beside me on the sofa with his well worn (abboo-his name for his quilt) tells me he's going to save abboo for his kids. Nothing better than that.

As a child, I slept under a full bed size quilt made by my grandmother (a Sunbonnet Sue but I always thought of it as a little Dutch girl, for some reason). It eventually wore out and my mother discarded it (I assume; her mother made many quilts and so she probably thought nothing about throwing a tattered and shabby quilt away). I'd give anything now, that I'm also a quiltmaker, if I had that quilt, or even a remnant of it. There are no pictures, so all I have is my memories, which are very sharp; I still remember the fabric as well as the pattern.

So I understand both camps: those who want to save quilts, and those who say use them. I'm glad we used that quilt --it was a big part of my childhood -- but I wish, too, that I still had it, especially since it's the only quilt I remember that my grandmother made (though she made many, none survive).