Quilts today are a stupid anachronism
Well, I suppose blankets and bedspreads do keep us as physically warm as quilts do. I do happen to think most quilts are pretty, but to me they are more than something pretty, or something to keep us warm. To me, they serve as a tangible reminder of how things used to be, and how lucky I am not to have to scrimp and save every scrap. I think that if a person makes a quilt, particularly as a gift, that it is a labor of love; and it may be a display of skill, as well, though to me that's secondary.
In the book "Christy" by Catherine Marshall, there is a scene where Christy is at the home of a destitute mountain woman, and notices the quilt with its unusual pattern. The woman says that she has looked out the cabin's one window and memorized how the moon and stars look through it at different times, and transferred those patterns onto the quilt. This woman had combined creativity with necessity, to my way of thinking.
