This Is Why I Quilt...

This picture sums up why I quilt... Olivia loved her new blanket! This quilt went together very easily, and in total, took me less than a week to complete. As you will recall, she picked out her own fabric, and it was a project I had sitting in the quilt closet for some time. It's nice to have the project done, and I'm ready to move onto other things that are waiting to be finished!

Here are a few close up pictures of my latest accomplishment, Quilt #20:

I'd love to hear how you track your quilts. For example, I label and number each quilt, then keep a corresponding journal with the quilt number, date and who it was made for. At one point I was VERY ambitious and started a scrapbook as well. The scrapbook was ordered by quilt number, had pictures of the quilt being assembled, and included the final picture of who the quilt was given to. On a few pages, I even included scraps of the fabric. At some point I'll update the scrapbook, but for now I'm simply enjoying making the quilts!

One of the next projects I have waiting in the wings is a charity quilt I'm making for Olivia's school's Silent Auction. It will be small in size, and I'm going to use the Crazy Eights quilt pattern. Below are the fabrics I've chosen, and I'm hoping this project goes together just as quickly.

Aren't these fabrics gorgeous?? I'm so afraid that once the quilt is finished, I'll want to keep it!

Last year I fell in love with the fabric as well. Here are a few pictures of the quilt I made for the 2008 Silent Auction, and this quilt sold for about $200. It's nice knowing that my efforts are raising money for the school!!

And this is an example of the label I added to the back. As you can see, I didn't get many quilts finished since last year, so I'm thankful this blog has motivated me to be productive again. It's not that I didn't quilt at all, it was mostly smaller projects that I focused on, and I don't label and number those.

Finally, this weekend was the first at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. I'm on my way to becoming a Certified Health Coach, and class was really exciting. There are nearly 2000 people in attendance at the Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. People come in from all over the world -- Australia, Japan, Sweden, Korea, the Bahamas, Spain, as well as from all over the US. The training will last for 6 months, during which I will begin to develop my client focus and begin working with people. Part of my challenge will be creating a business name, and I'm really struggling here. So if you have ideas, send them to me, and if I use the name, I'll send a charm pack your way! The program focuses around holistic wellness, and I'd love to hear from you with questions or comments.

Until next time, happy quilting!

Warm regards,

~ Christine