If You Don't Plan Adequately...

I am in the process of making a quilt for a dear friend who had a baby several weeks ago. Unfortunately, because of my poor planning skills I have run into several problems. Here are the top 10:

Planning Problem # 1: It has become a tradition to make a quilt for my friends having babies. The problem is, as I think I've stated in a previous blog, I procrastinate. I never start the project until AFTER the baby is born. If I were a better planner, I would decide on a quilt pattern and gather the materials several months BEFORE the baby is born so upon arrival I have a special gift. Friends that have received quilts can testify the quilt usually comes for the kid's 18th birthday.

Planning Problem # 2: When I go to the fabric store I don't always have in mind the design of quilt I am going to piece together. In this case, I bought the material before I found this really great quilt pattern book. Flipping through the new book I found a fun pattern. I pay no regard to the amount of material I need to purchase for this design since I had already purchased it, but I thought it was cute, so I moved forward.

Problem # 3: I am 12 blocks and 20 hours into this quilt. I plan on continuing to follow the quilt pattern, just shrinking it down to crib size. Too bad I failed to plan on buying the neutral fabric used to actually piece the blocks to each other. Therefore I spend a lunch hour driving to the quilt shop Jenny told be about in Centerville. I spend $18 on two yards of designer quilt fabric that I think will look great with the blocks I've made. I even took a block with me to ensure everything matched (NOTE: this is the only planning moment during this whole project - and, so you know, I never spend this much on fabric, but this quilt is going to be great, right?).

Problem # 4: The fabric I bought to piece the blocks together looks ridiculous. I decide to scratch the piecing material and just sew the squares to each other (draft pictured above). I think this will look much better, but I need to make about eight more squares because the quilt has just shrunk substantially. Too bad I am running out of material to make the blocks and will need to go back to the JoAnn Fabrics to purchase more material to finish the additional blocks.

Problem # 5: I spend another lunch hour at JoAnn Fabrics looking for the same four fabrics I've used to piece the blocks. I have found two of the four quickly, but I can not locate the other two. It hasn't been that long since I bought the fabric. It's not like the two missing fabrics could possibly be that great that they are suddenly sold out. I search every isle at the JoAnns thinking perhaps they have just been stashed randomly in a dusty corner. I even check under the cutting table - perhaps somebody just purchased these fabrics and they haven't been returned to the shelf. Wishful thinking. I can't find the two fabrics and now I'm going crazy because every grandma and stay-at-home mom in the Salt Lake area is at the JoAnns at lunch hour.

Problem # 6: I go to a diffrent JoAnn Fabrics after work. If the Salt Lake store doesn't have it, surely the Bountiful store will. I study the calico fabrics for a good 45 minutes. I make my rounds around the store (the whole idea of them being stashed in a dustry corner). I search through a 10 foot high, 300 bolts-of-fabric pile that have not been returned to the shelf. Nothing. I am starting to get depressed, so I plan (wow, a second planning moment I forgot about) on improvising. I buy two fabrics that are very similar to the fabrics I am looking for. I think I will strategically place the different squares so maybe my friend won't notice which of these blocks is not like the other. On the way home I pass by a Bernina/Nuttall Fabric store that I didn't know was in Bountiful. Feeling lucky that I might find something there, I stop. Nothing again. The lady tells me there's another JoAnn Fabrics in Ogden. Psssfff. I'm not going to Ogden to maybe, potentially, but not likey buy fabric that matches my blocks. One good take-away from Bernina, they did have the special bobbins I've needed for the last 7 years so now each bobbin can have its very own color and the lady said my quilt block was so cute.

Problem # 7: I am not excited about improvising on the blocks. Strategically placing them is not going to hide the fact that different fabrics are used. My friend will know my secret. I can't do it. After work, again, I head to Hancock Fabrics. I now remember why I never, ever go to Hancock Fabrics. Ghet--to. That store is a disaster. Not only is the store a disaster, but they have the worst selection of quilting fabrics, all disorganized and such a racket I feel like I need to shower when I leave the store. Of course, after making 15 laps around the store (checking those dusty corners again) they don't have what I need. What a waste.

Problem # 8: Since I was in the area, I decided I would give JoAnns one more try. Maybe, just maybe, these two bolts of fabric have magically appeared on the shelf. Is it my lucky day?????? I scan the entire store, again. I touch every bolt of fabric, again. I even find one of the fabrics (there is hope!) with the same pattern - one bolt of yellow, one of pink, and one of aqua. I need blue. I almost asked the sales lady with the platinum blonde permed hair and gigantic black rimmed glasses (think female Drew Carey) if I could go into the backroom and search out the fabrics in the dusty corners behind the "employees only" doors, but I am so turned off by fabric stores at this point, I just leave.

Problem # 9: I still don't have the right fabrics. The improv fabric isn't doing it for me either. I am considering stopping by the quilt store in Centerville again. Maybe they have it. Doubtful though - they're all designer and stuff. I am actually contemplating going to Ogden. This is so wrong.

Problem # 10: I told my friend the quilt would be done in about week. That was assuming, at the time, I would be able to jump-skip into JoAnns, buy some extra material and crank out some quilt blocks. The "week" is almost come and gone. The baby may really be 18 before this quilt is done.