In what might become a holiday tradition (we’ve done it twice now), my mother-in-law Joan and I went to the quilt shop today to turn my Christmas money into fabric. Unlike at the malls, there were no half-price bargains to be had, but there were no crowds of bargain hunters to contend with, either. Since I’ve got baby quilts on the brain I spent most of my time looking in that section. I considered dinosaurs and Goldilocks and The Three Little Pigs and castles before settling on two companion prints with anthropomorphized triangles and circles and squares and rectangles. One is an allover scatter print and the other is a wide stripe with the shapes lined up holding hands (yes, triangles can have hands) under the words “friends come in all sizes, shapes, and colors”. I must admit it amuses me that the rectangle looks a lot like Towelie from South Park even though I know that’s a not a good role model for a baby. I got a yard and a half of each so I can use either for the backing and have enough to use the other for a border. Right now I’m thinking the scatter print on the back with the stripe as a border on the front surrounding nine-patch checkerboards alternating with simple shape blocks. Of course by the time I get around to doing this quilt I may have an entirely different vision.

In the remnant basket I found a full panel and some partial panels from a pastel baby print grouping that I’ve been collecting parts of for months now. I got some in Texas in April when I visited Mel and some in Columbus (??) when Mom and I met at the NQA show in June. I probably have enough now to do a whole quilt. I don’t often work in pastels so it will be a nice change of pace to play with these soft greens and purples and pinks.

To round out my purchases I got a few things for grownup quilts I might make someday. From a great selection of realistic fruit and vegetable prints I chose bananas and corn because those are two things Mr. Karen likes to eat and I can always use good yellows. To remember time I’ve spent in Florida, I got a mosaic-type print with crabs and starfish and shells and fish on it. I have no specific plans for any of this; I might never make a corn quilt, but it’s nice to know I can if I want to.

Now I can hardly wait to choose what to quilt next. A baby quilt, certainly, but which baby and using which fabrics? If I go with the First In-First Out system, the next quilt is for the son of one of my coworkers. I think those smiling squares and circles might be a good match for him. But maybe I’ll do the girl quilt that I got the commission for. She doesn’t need it right away, so I’m not in a rush, but it might be soothing to work with the pinks she wants for that one. I love that I have so many options. Before I can start on any of them, however, I need to clean up my sewing room. Too bad I didn’t get any housecleaning elves for Christmas; I could set them in there and it would be done in no time.

A year ago, I recapped our trip to Florida.