"What do you do with all those quilts?"

I get asked fairly often what I do with all the quilts I make - do you? In fact, I got asked twice this last weekend. There's really a very simple answer.

• I USE THEM - In my home, they hang on walls, cover beds, stack on dressers, lay over couches, pile in closets and dresser drawers. I keep one in my car. I have several at my office.

• I GIFT THEM - Parents, kids, grandgirl, sibs, nieces, nephews. They all have them. Some have several. Sometimes they go to friends too.

• I DONATE THEM - I belong to a charity bee and work with my local guild specifically to make quilts to give away. These result in group-made quilts of course, but I also occasionally give my own quilts to local charities that I like to support.

• I SHOW THEM - I have a collection that have been in quilt shows, or I intend to enter in shows. 

• I SHARE THEM - Whether in classes, lectures, or trunk shows, depending on the topic, I need samples. So quilts that may be used in that way, again, I hang onto.

• I STORE THEM - There are a few that just don't find themselves in the above categories, so they wait until the right time or the right person. Or I just can't bear to give them away but they don't have an active purpose right now. Or I like to use them during specific seasons.

• I SELL THEM - OK, this just happened once. 

I'm sure to non-quilters, it's hard to understand how I can just keep making. But as YOU all know, makers gotta make! I'm not always thinking of the end result or the destination when I start a new project. I really do try to use them well and share them generously. But sometimes, often, I just need to make one more.