I have seen alot of stories about people who didn't "appear grateful" for quilts they received. I just thought it would be a good idea to keep in mind...

1. Many people, especially young ones, are very nervous as the center of attention at a wedding/baby shower. A better measure of how much they like a gift/quilt is how much it gets used and what they say about it later.

2. Sometimes we catch people off guard giving them something as a surprise and they are speechless.

I gave my cousin an Irish Chain queen sized quilt at a shower. She barely opened it to look at it but she was so nervous in front of all those people and so time pressured to open everything. She couldn't gush over a quilt and not gush over every single other gift. She later told me how much she loved it. I had also given her a lap sized scrap quilt for her engagement party. She didn't open gifts there, but her now husband came up to me months later and made a comment about how surprised he was that such radically different fabric could make such a cool quilt. (that's why they also got another quilt)

I surprised my aunt with a quilt to thank her for helping me with my son. She didn't say much but later my cousin was "ripping into her" about how she was bragging to others about how she was now a quilt owner!

Now I just assume that everyone I give a quilt to loves the gift.

Great attitude! I think so many people assume that because they are not praised for the work they've done that it didn't mean anything to the receiver. What an assumption and you know the old saying about assuming?

I gave my niece a Christmas table runner for a wedding present and never saw it the whole time they were married. She later remarried and we were at their house for Christmas when she pointed me to the coffee table and asked if it looked familiar. At first I said no but then I realized what it was. It fit their coffee table perfectly and it's been there every year since. Not sure if she used it during the first marriage or if maybe he didn't like it but sure was glad to see it being used.

You are so right. I have had thank you's but the real pleasure was seeing it being used when I would go to the house of the receiver. The quilts had very obviously been washed and babies crawling on them made me happy to know that the effort was well worth it.

It's nice to see the gift you made being used.

In my early days of quilting I made one of my nieces a quilt for a wedding gift. I was hesitant to gift it as it was not perfect....lots of bias issues. 5 years later it was on their sofa front and center. It had a well loved look to it. I she never gushed over it but she certainly used it.:)

Very well said.

Great reminder to all of us (smile). Thank you for sharing.

I don't give as much credence to gushy thank you-s spoken at showers as to the facial expressions & body language. I very much prefer to see the item used.

To me seeing a gift being used is so much better than the receiver gushing over it. Some people just don't gush, I am one of them, it doesn't mean I don't love something.