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".

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).