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Continue ShoppingShould You Gift A Quilt?
When I give lectures at Quilt Guilds and Quilt Shows, I often say that the first rule of quilting should be, "Don't give quilts to people who don't like quilts." Some people laugh and others nod but I will sometimes get someone who comes up to me after the show and tells me that people should learn to appreciate what they receive. I find this statement very amusing!
Why would anyone want to invest the time and money into a gift that won't be well-received? I say, send a gift card instead and make quilts for people who like them.
We have a rule in our marriage that my husband can't buy me anything with an electrical cord unless I ask for it specifically. This has worked well for us and I haven't received any power tools that I didn't want. I did, however, ask for an electric chainsaw several years ago. We had lots of small trees in our yard that needed to be cut down and I couldn't manage the big chainsaw so I thought this might be a fun tool. I opened it on my birthday and my dear, sweet husband and two brothers in law took the "girly saw" out to the garage to assemble for me. Our big, burly neighbor came over to help, too. It seemed to work great, in fact, they cut down every one of those trees while "testing" it out. The neighbor borrowed it and did lots of cutting, too. Then the brother in law...I never did get to use that saw. I would just look at it and one of the guys would grab it and start cutting.
Anyways, the saw didn't turn out the way I expected, but perhaps it was even better. When you give a quilt do you check in advance to see if the recipient likes quilts? What colors and styles that person likes? Do you explain that quilts are meant to be used, not stored? Do you mention that the best compliment a quilter can receive is to see the quilt being used?
My point is, don't set yourself up for disappointment. Not everyone likes quilts. And those of us who do like quilts always have room for one more.
Deborah Backus
Jul 11, 2018
I can appreciate the no electrical rule. I was apparently not “appreciative” when on one special Mothers Day my husband presented me with a nice shiny barbeque…..and a pack of steaks to cook him!