My first quilts were for Christmas presents the year we were married. I was still in university, trying to live in a university town where graduates were a dime a dozen. My new husband worked 60 hr/wk at minimum wage. And by January we'd found a cheaper apartment and I went to work full time, also minimum wage. Finally we were in the black. My husbands Christmas present to me was a pair of new pants.
So I made due with material I had to make quilts. They weren't pieced. Just 2 pieces of fabric with batting, quilted and bound. They were well loved. Over the years, the reciprients aged and died. The quilts came back to me. They're thread bare and the quilting is mostly gone. BUT, they were my expression of love for my new in-laws, new step mom, and gmom-in-law. Maybe 10 yrs later, I again picked up quilting and started with quilt-rules on a traditional quilt. And it reminds me of a beginner. Maybe 15 yrs later I got around to finishing. The front was blocks of the same size. The back contain the odd size and was creatively pieced with all the leftover's