One Quilt, Two Quilt, Three?

Remember the rhyme, "One potato, two potato, three potato, four"? I'm starting to count quilts that way.  I've never had a quilt ready for the long-arm so close on the heels of the one before it.  But then, I've never worked on two quilts simultaneously either.  

The two quilts side by side

Remember the problem of having too much going on in a quilt at one time? The quilt got too busy and boggled and, well, it just wasn't working.  Then it occurred to me that I might have two quilts.

The backing of quilt #1

And I did!  That worked out quite nicely since I have two granddaughters sharing a room in Rayne who happen to now be in single beds.  I've made a quilt for every grand upon getting his/her single bed.  Sleeping all alone can be a little difficult.  Grandmay's quilts seem to be a good solution for sleeping difficulties.  

These two grands share a room, so I wanted to make coordinating quilts.  Well, when you have too much of something and split the busyness, you just end up with two somethings.  So now we have two quilts composed of the same idea, fabrics, colors, and so on.

Another view of the two quilts

And now one is quilted and has made room for the second.  I made a backing for the second one today and loaded everything on the long-arm before we went to dinner with some of the other grands. So tomorrow I'll begin the quilting and maybe the quilts will be finished and on their respective beds before I go back to school in January.  

There's a third grand who will move into her own single bed right after Christmas, and the plan is that everyone will get her quilt at the same time so there are no hurt feelings.  Quilt #3 will be different from these two but there's a bit of the solids left and they may find their way into the third quilt...we'll see.

The plan is not to give the quilts on Christmas Day.  That's cutting it too close, and they are not Christmas gifts.  They are meant to be big girl bed quilts.  

Here's hoping you're all ready for the holidays.  Our family will be gathering several times over the next few days--one advantage of living relatively closely to each other.  It means that I'll be cooking and cleaning, but I love when the house is filled with stories and laughter and wonderful cooking, so it's a small price to pay to build memories with the grandchildren and have more stories and love to share.

Wishing you and yours a beautiful, Merry Christmas