When you see your quilt
#71
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Grants Pass, OR
Posts: 2,071
My former SIL used his grandmother's handmade quilts as acoustical wadding in his music room. My DD refused to have quilts that I had given her used that way and it caused a huge disagreement. My DD has asked that he give her those quilts (holes and all) to her for their DD but so far he has said no. My DGD has made her 1st quilt. She is 9. Yippee.
#72
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 851
My grandmother made me a scrappy postcard quilt (cut using a post card as template) which has been used for everything and now resides in the back of the SUV full time to protect the carpet. I have had to recover the back because it has been used so much. I am sure she never envisioned that quilt being used that way but she did make it to be used and BOY! has it ever been used. Point is, use depends on the recipient and is up to them. I purposely make quilts that will be used and "abused" and take it as a compliment when a replacement is called for.
#74
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 493
AMEN! A quilt is made for the joy of creating. Should you care to share it with someone fine but the reward is in seeing it finished.
Who am I to force my color choices and design ideas on someone else? I give a gift and how they use it or not is up to them. About 90% of the quilts I see, I'd not display in my home but find another way to use. A gift should be given with no 'strings' or rules applied. Or don't give gifts.
#75
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 493
Beautifully said. Much nicer that my perhaps to sever reply.
A gift is just that. A gift. I do not loan my gifts. once they are gifted they are out of my hands. I have no say in who does what with them. I consider them like my children. I raised then with love. Sent them out into the world with love. They have all grown and given love back to me and the world around them. Some times I want to say something when I see some of the things they do, LOL but I did my best niot to, they are all grown up living there lives as they see fit. So my quilts have a life of there own to thrive or fale, So far the people that have entered into the lives of my kids and quilts have for the most part ben good to and for them.
#76
I personally put my heart and soul into every quilt I make. They cost a great deal of money and lots of work and time, so yes, I would get hurt if someone didn't use it. I have given very few of my quilts away and when I have, I have made very sure the colors and design match the person. I have had very good results, so far. This Christmas I will be giving away many quilted items as gifts and I am planning on thinking that what they do with their 'gifts' is their business, not mine.
#77
my mother was a great 'starter' but not a finisher....lots of single blocks in her trash....
the only item that made it to any size was catheral window (all done by hand of course)
that ended up almost 3 feet square.
my husband made a wood frame for it and it hangs in my sewing studio....
I am very proud to look upon it on a daily basis and can not imagine it in a closet....
the only item that made it to any size was catheral window (all done by hand of course)
that ended up almost 3 feet square.
my husband made a wood frame for it and it hangs in my sewing studio....
I am very proud to look upon it on a daily basis and can not imagine it in a closet....
#79
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Jozefow, Poland
Posts: 4,474
I personally think "on display on a chair in her living room" is actually a more prestigious place than her bedroom. Obviously she is very proud of it and wants people to see it! Congrats.
#80
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,369
I have only given quilts to my mom! :lol: and one small one was meant (by me) to be used in her bedroom but she had it on a chair in the living room when I visited. I have to laugh at myself for being slightly miffed. I had another one with me that I made for her bed. It isn't a masterpiece by any means, and the back is about as interesting as the front. I can't be offended if she doesn't end up using it like I pictured.
A few years ago I gave my DS and DIL a beautiful (it was the pattern and colors that made it so) crocheted afghan, which they had expressed a great desire to have when they saw me working on it. They loved it when they got it but they are careless with possessions and there's no telling where that afghan is today. But I knew that when I gave it and I gave it anyway. I'm currently handquilting a large throw size quilt for their son (also somewhat careless) and I can't predict it's ultimate fate either. Do I regret the care--or lack thereof--of the things I made with love and by my own hands? Yes. Can I do anything about it? No. Unless quilters want to keep every quilt they make (I don't, nor do I have room) then these are the chances they take. By that same token, I keep certain things I've made simply because I won't take that chance; I recently made a small attic windows quilt that I will keep "just because". But for the ones I give, I take pictures, hope for the best, and try not to judge. And what I hold to is the joy and appreciation I saw when I gave them.
Last Christmas I made my youngest grandson a Minesweeper "doll" (he calls it a figure) and more recently a Steve "doll" (from the same online video game). I found a kind of pattern for one, the other I had to make up, as they say, out of whole cloth....in this case fleece. His genuine delight in these gifts made my day and if they are now forgotten under the bed or out in the backyard (which I don't believe) I still remember how thrilled he was to get them and that makes it worth it.
This post prompted a LOT of responses. I doubt any of us would feel quite the same about gifts we bought as about the things we create with our mind, heart and hands!
Last edited by Friday1961; 08-19-2012 at 08:35 AM.
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