New baby quilt

Here’s the story:

My friend Tara is a great girl.  I love her lots.  She has always admired my quilts.  I don’t say that in a braggy way, like, “Hey everyone, look at my awesome quilts!   I’m so awesome!”  Not quite like that.  She just has always been so sweet about my crazy hobby and appreciates the work that I put into them.  So much so that she’s often said (whiny voice), “When am I going to get a quilt?”  To which I would respond, “Just give me a reason.”

You see, Tara got married before I started quilting and as of this post date, is childless.  And those are two of the most common reasons I make quilts: to celebrate a marriage or a baby.

Lo and behold, Tara is now great with child.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Tara’s little boy is due at the end of April and last weekend I was invited to her baby shower.

I knew what had to be done.

The problem was this: I had my sewing machine here at the house but nothing else.  All of my fabric that I’ve accumulated over the years and my various notions were in storage.  I had to come to terms with departing with them when we decided to sell our house.

For weeks, I fooled myself into thinking I’d just buy her something else and make her baby a quilt when we moved into a new house.

Then last Monday rolled around, 6 days before the shower.  It was now or never.

So early the next morning, I took Jude and Jace to the quilt shop in town and picked out new fabric for the quilt; our mutual friend Ali helped me with the color scheme – Tara is decorating the nursery with primary colors.  After a short trip to our storage unit to get a few essentials, I got busy.

I knew the quilt had to be a fairly simple design; I didn’t have a lot of time.  Mix in three – nearly four – house showings*, oh yeah, and three boys, and by 1:30 am Saturday morning, I had this:

*Friday as I was working feverishly to finish the quilt, a realtor called and asked if she could show the house that evening, so I put all my sewing stuff away, cleaned so that it looked like no one lives here, and hauled the kids off to the in-laws’ house.  The realtor called my cell phone during the time they were supposed to be here to tell me they couldn’t make it.  Big-time FAIL.