What is the worse thing that has happened to your quilts?
01-19-2014, 09:51 AM
#141
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,469
Wow, some of these stories are definitely heartbreaking to a quilter. But as it goes to say, once it's given it no longer belongs to us. And I thought my FIL had done me a disservice Christmas. He had hinted at wanting a quilt. So I made one in his college colors of all things (it's what he also hinted to wanting). Well, Christmas day he opened it and plopped it on the floor next to his chair. He hasn't touched it since. It is still sitting next to his chair on the floor. He didn't even open it to see the pattern. It's in his living room that we never go into except on Christmas, still on top of the Christmas paper. Now he has asked me to do two baby quilts for the waitress who waits on him at IHOP. Really? The nerve. I said No to that one.
Good idea not to make any more per his requests.
01-19-2014, 10:16 AM
#142
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Behind my sewing machine
Posts: 7,202
Oh that is terrible...so sorry to hear that.
I inadvertently left a carry-on bag with quilt tops on the airplane. I carried it on so the airline wouldn't have a chance to lose it! I changed planes midway through the daylong trip, and I forgot that I left the bag in the bottom of the first class jacket hanging compartment ( no, I wasn't traveling in 1st class, but the flt attendant was nice). When I got to my final destination, I realized what had happened, and I told the airline. They trace the other plane down, but the bag was no longer on it!
I had 3 tops, one finished quilt and lots of quilting stuff in it. Broken hearted.
I had 3 tops, one finished quilt and lots of quilting stuff in it. Broken hearted.
01-19-2014, 10:35 AM
#143
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,783
Wow, some of these stories are definitely heartbreaking to a quilter. But as it goes to say, once it's given it no longer belongs to us. And I thought my FIL had done me a disservice Christmas. He had hinted at wanting a quilt. So I made one in his college colors of all things (it's what he also hinted to wanting). Well, Christmas day he opened it and plopped it on the floor next to his chair. He hasn't touched it since. It is still sitting next to his chair on the floor. He didn't even open it to see the pattern. It's in his living room that we never go into except on Christmas, still on top of the Christmas paper. Now he has asked me to do two baby quilts for the waitress who waits on him at IHOP. Really? The nerve. I said No to that one.
01-19-2014, 10:38 AM
#144
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: BC. Canada
Posts: 65
So many sad stories... The dog house... and battery acid...make me weep!
I found out many years ago, that there are folks who adore hand made gifts and others that have no clue about the work ( time), the expense and the labour of love involved. I try to make a small item for someone to gauge which group they are in... if they don't show any interest I know. As crafters we are the lucky ones I think. The joy we get from crafting is so..enriching. The poor ignorant souls who do not craft do not realise what they are missing out on. Take comfort from knowing your life is probably much more joyful than theirs. That is what I try to think.
However if I give a quilt to a child I do tell them to use it and abuse it, I do not expect it to be a family heirloom. I like them to have fun with it, even if it's a picnic rug. I think I would draw the line for some of your experiences though! So ignorant.
I found out many years ago, that there are folks who adore hand made gifts and others that have no clue about the work ( time), the expense and the labour of love involved. I try to make a small item for someone to gauge which group they are in... if they don't show any interest I know. As crafters we are the lucky ones I think. The joy we get from crafting is so..enriching. The poor ignorant souls who do not craft do not realise what they are missing out on. Take comfort from knowing your life is probably much more joyful than theirs. That is what I try to think.
However if I give a quilt to a child I do tell them to use it and abuse it, I do not expect it to be a family heirloom. I like them to have fun with it, even if it's a picnic rug. I think I would draw the line for some of your experiences though! So ignorant.
01-19-2014, 11:09 AM
#145
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: A Hop from Heaven, a Skip from Sanity and a Jump from the Good Life....
Posts: 6,665
This thread is depressing !!!!!
Such horror stories... I do believe i must accept that once its given to the recipient it it no longer mine to say or do but WOW... i feel for all of you..
Such horror stories... I do believe i must accept that once its given to the recipient it it no longer mine to say or do but WOW... i feel for all of you..
01-19-2014, 11:29 AM
#146
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 8,126
It's sad to me that you think nothing you do is good enough for your parents. You know them, I don't, but perhaps thinking about how the afghan has been treated from a different perspective would make you feel better about it and them.
If the afghan had a place on a bed in your parents home and then migrated to the couch, I think it was appreciated. After all someone decided to display it on the couch for the world to see, and it became a comfortable place to sit. Seems like a good life for an afghan.
If the afghan had a place on a bed in your parents home and then migrated to the couch, I think it was appreciated. After all someone decided to display it on the couch for the world to see, and it became a comfortable place to sit. Seems like a good life for an afghan.
01-19-2014, 11:44 AM
#148
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,203
The worst that has happened to mine -
1) my grandkids lost theirs in a hurricane - this is before I had thought to label them, and couldn't get any more of the distinctive fabric used in them. I was able to remake one of them.
2) while it was just a quilt top, we had our boat sink, so a bunch of stuff from the boat on the basement floor waiting to be washed, then shortly thereafter, a flood in our basement. The quilt top was on the ironing board, but one corner fell off and touched the moldy stuff from the boat. I tried bleaching the corner, but the color came out of the quilt top, mold still visible. So I ended up appliqueing on corner blocks on the top. That one ended up looking fine.
1) my grandkids lost theirs in a hurricane - this is before I had thought to label them, and couldn't get any more of the distinctive fabric used in them. I was able to remake one of them.
2) while it was just a quilt top, we had our boat sink, so a bunch of stuff from the boat on the basement floor waiting to be washed, then shortly thereafter, a flood in our basement. The quilt top was on the ironing board, but one corner fell off and touched the moldy stuff from the boat. I tried bleaching the corner, but the color came out of the quilt top, mold still visible. So I ended up appliqueing on corner blocks on the top. That one ended up looking fine.
01-19-2014, 12:17 PM
#149
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Jozefow, Poland
Posts: 4,474
If my quilts are used for dog beds, moving furniture or so my DH doesn't have to lie on the cold ground to work on his vehicle, after it has given a long life inside the house, it doesn't bother me in the least. It would bother me if it happened to a new quilt, or one that was only one or two years old.
However, as I was giving away charity quilts last Tuesday, in fact, I had a lady ask for a specific size because she needed it for the inside of her duvet. I did get a little irritated with her. While I had already told her she could have one and to come choose one, I had made an exception for her so she could have a quilt. I regretted the exception. After I found out she wanted a filler for a duvet, I told her rather "almost unpleasantly" that I tried to make these pretty so that people could look at them, and that maybe she needed to find her blanket for the inside of her duvet cover somewhere else. (I stayed under control, but it was the first time all day where I found my temper rising inside.) Then she asked for a second one. I laughed and told her "no."
And I will remember her face and she won't get another one. Any wool blanket will work for the inside of a duvet and I don't need to spend time making them pretty, using nice fabric for that.
But all in all, I've had pretty thankful people get the charity quilts I've made. This morning someone told me how nice the one she got on Tuesday was. (We gave out over 40 on Tuesday.) Another man asked me for another one this morning, also--I'll find him one--I still have over 45 left.
However, as I was giving away charity quilts last Tuesday, in fact, I had a lady ask for a specific size because she needed it for the inside of her duvet. I did get a little irritated with her. While I had already told her she could have one and to come choose one, I had made an exception for her so she could have a quilt. I regretted the exception. After I found out she wanted a filler for a duvet, I told her rather "almost unpleasantly" that I tried to make these pretty so that people could look at them, and that maybe she needed to find her blanket for the inside of her duvet cover somewhere else. (I stayed under control, but it was the first time all day where I found my temper rising inside.) Then she asked for a second one. I laughed and told her "no."
And I will remember her face and she won't get another one. Any wool blanket will work for the inside of a duvet and I don't need to spend time making them pretty, using nice fabric for that.
But all in all, I've had pretty thankful people get the charity quilts I've made. This morning someone told me how nice the one she got on Tuesday was. (We gave out over 40 on Tuesday.) Another man asked me for another one this morning, also--I'll find him one--I still have over 45 left.
01-19-2014, 12:30 PM
#150
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Yukon Territory, Canada
Posts: 410
I made a quilt for a relative and later I found out that she had put it in her outside dog house. I was beside myself. I did such a good job on that quilt and paid a LA quilter to quilt it. I used expensive fabric and made nice blocks. It was a very pretty quilt. Now it is muddy and ripped and full of dog hair. How could someone do something like that? I now know that I have to rethink who I give my quilts to and to explain how much work and money went into them. I'm so mad at this gal who threw my quilt in the dog house, I could explode. And she has no clue I'm upset.
I know its hard but I suggest you just let it go. Hanging on to the upset is only hurting you, and wasting time you could be using for something happy. Take care.
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