Quilt To Do List
January 3, 2006
It’s been a couple years since I used this space to do a quilting to do list, so I figure the time has come for an update. There were twelve projects in my queue back in December of 2003: seven baby quilts (!), a thank you quilt, a memory quilt, and three things for me: the calendar quilt, the train quilt, and something for my office. The baby quilts all got done, the last of them in December of 2004. The other five projects didn’t progress at all. I lost touch with the intended recipients of the thank you and memory quilts and don’t know how (or even whether) to reestablish contact, so those fell off the list. As for the three things for me, well, other projects came along that seemed more important and/or interesting, so I did those instead. That’s okay; this is a hobby, not a job. I don’t get a raise in my quilting compensation package if I complete my objectives.
Right now, my quilting to do list looks like this (items listed in the order I intend to work on them, though once we’re past the top three it’s really anybody’s guess as to what might happen):
1. Baby June. This one is almost done; I put the last stitches in the binding last night, so it just needs a label before being documented and wrapped.
2. Baby October. I’ve pulled some fabrics for this one and picked out a couple/few patterns I might use.
3. Baby Cordelia. I can use this baby’s real name because the quilt is not going to be a surprise. All I know at this point is that it’ll somehow coordinate with her sister’s quilt. One idea: use the white colorway of that black print as the focus fabric for this one (provided I actually do have as much of it on hand as I think I do).
4. Treehouse. You already know about this one.
5. Baby September. This little girl was born before the three babies above but her quilt is down here on the list because her two older siblings had to wait until their first birthdays for their baby quilts so there’s a family precedent. Also, I don’t have any good ideas for this one yet.
6. Charity quilt for guild. I feel like I should do at least one of these a year and so far I’m only batting .333 on that.
7. Calendar quilt. I may be kidding myself by keeping this on the list. I finished these blocks in 2001, and they’ve been up on the felt wall several times, yet I have not sewn them together. Maybe it’s not meant to be?
8. Train quilt. This is the one with my dad’s railroad patches, for which I’ve been collecting fabric since about 2001. My brother has stopped asking when I’m going to get it done. I have only vague ideas for a design, but I haven’t spent much time working on it so that’s not surprising.
I’m not putting the office quilt back on the list, since I’ve been in my current office for two years now and the only thing I’ve managed to put up on the wall is a single decorative tile that just happened to go with the colors here. (It’s purple grapes with tan leaves on a green background–if I ever have the kitchen of my dreams, it will look a lot like this tile.) I also made a conscious decision not to put two UFOs (un-finished objects) on the list. The house quilt top might turn into a charity quilt if I can stand to work with those fabrics now that my tastes run in decidedly different directions, but I don’t want to even sort of commit to that. As for the animal blocks, I’m not sure they’ll ever find a home, but they’re aren’t many of them, so at least they don’t take up much space.
One year ago, I had a new alarm clock. It’s still waking me up with its gentle rays to this day.
Two years ago, there was no entry.
Three years ago, I had a God jar. I still have the container, but I haven’t looked at or changed the contents in ages.