Yesterday, I finished another baby quilt, this one with a soccer theme, since the baby’s dad is soccer guy. The remarkable part is that I’d only started it the week before, and I didn’t take any vacation time to sew, either. I’ve never done one that fast before. Now, granted, it is the simplest baby quilt I’ve ever made, with the biggest pieces and the least number of fabrics. But still, a quilt in a week—that’s not bad at all. I was rushing so that I’d have it done for today, the baby’s first birthday, which is my outer limit for acceptable baby quilt presentation timing.

The next quilt on my agenda is also a baby quilt, for a baby due June 14th, so I have a little more time for that one. The challenge with this one is that the mother is a quilter, and one who’s really picky about construction, too. Construction is not my strength, so I’ll have to take extra care, and probably will end up doing more ripping out and resewing than usual. It’s worth it to try and meet her standards because I know she’ll notice and appreciate the work. Before I can get to that part of the project, though, I have to decide on a design and fabrics. I don’t have anything picked out yet. I’m pretty sure I can find a suitable focus fabric in my stash. They know the baby is a girl, and have decorated the nursery in pink and white, so I could do a stereotypical girly-girl quilt, all pinks and flowers and dolls and such.

My entire quilting to do list:
1. The baby quilt discussed above.
2. Pillow or small wall hanging for an Internet friend, in trade for the copy of his self-produced CD he sent months ago. I know the general theme I want, but haven’t pulled any fabrics.
3. Baby quilt for a baby due in early July. I have a design idea for this one, and probably all the fabrics I’ll need to execute it.
4. Group baby quilt for a coworker also due in early July 10. Four of us will be working on this one, and we have fabrics and a rough plan (and one person has already sewn her blocks).
5. The calendar quilt I started in June, 2000. The blocks are done, but I need to decide on a setting and borders. This will be a big wall piece (maybe even bed size).
6. Baby quilt for baby who will turn one in late October. This is so far out there I won’t even think about it until late summer at the earliest.
7. Train quilt incorporating the railroad patches I inherited from Dad. I have been collecting train fabrics for this one.
8. Holiday/seasonal quilts for my office, to rotate in with the ones I’ve been using.

Whew.