An Introduction

When I was a child my mother took up quilting.  She started making and selling quilts. She made us clothes for Christmas, costumes for school projects and holidays, and curtains as far as the eye could see.  And though she did manage to teach me something about quilting, I was far more interested in making costumes with her old sewing machine.

Fast forward several years and there I was, a professional costume designer...  wishing I could find time to quilt.  Everywhere I looked, my friends were getting married and having babies.  Being young and broke, I decided that the best way to handle attending all these events I was being asked to, was to make my own gifts.  And so I started making quilts for weddings.  Then I started making them when people had babies.  

Soon the number of people who 'needed' a quilt for an occasion had spiraled out of control!  So I started keeping what I called The Quilt List.  Get engaged, you make the list.  Get pregnant, you make the list.  At first the list was just in an old notebook, but that was far too easy to close and put away.  Then it became a gadget on my Google homepage, always reminding me when I signed in, how many there were to make.  Can you imagine how insanely large the list had become?  It needed to be broken down.  It needed to be organized.  It definitely needed to be prioritized. 

And so now the list is a blog.  Something I need to keep track of and answer to each day.  Something to keep me on task.  Something to remind me to make a few moments to sew for pleasure each day.  There are also rules for the quilt list.

1. Friends and family who get engaged or pregnant make the list.
2. Break off your engagement, you are taken off the list.
3. The list gets prioritized based on dates. 
4. There are no quilts made for Christmas, or birthdays and I stop quilting around the end of October, so I can make Christmas presents in November & December.
5. My best quilts come from the inspiration I feel when thinking of the person I'm making them for. I create a quilt based on who the recipient is, not on what their living room looks like.

This blog will chronicle each new quilt that I make, a little about the person I make it for, my inspiration, pattern and fabric selections.  Sometimes I may add patterns and tutorials.  As I teach at a state university, the Fall and Spring semesters are my busiest times. When I don't have anything new to show you from a current quilt project, I will occasionally post previously made quilts, miscellaneous sewing and crafting projects, some of the costumes and crafts I make at work, and favorite recipes.  So follow along with me, as I attempt to manage my crafting habit, my crazy job, keeping house, and the Quilt List.