"Broken Dreams" was made as part of Rayna Gillman's Urban phase of quilts.

After her quilt Warsaw 1997, she began to look at all the buildings and cities that were beginning to fall apart and torn up for inspiration. Broken Dreams was inspired by a factory in Lowell, Massachusetts. The place was all boarded up and had a sign that said, "Luxury Lofts Coming". When Rayna saw that she knew what her next piece was going to be. The windows seen throughout the quilt were demo blocks that she made in a printing with found objects class that she taught, with the grids being made from construction fence.