Houston, I Have a Problem

but it's a good problem. Where in the world do I put all these quilts?

I give a lot of them away, but have found myself in a lull where there aren't any weddings or babies. Usually I make these specifically for the person anyway, though I have found a couple of finished tops in my stack that will make great Christmas gifts this year.

Truth be told, I like that I'm able to stockpile quilts right now. The days will come all too soon when I have married children and then grandchildren and I'll have many more beds to keep covered in quilts.

I have a friend who wistfully tells me that she wishes she had the legacy to leave for her children that I do. Most of the time I feel forgettable, so there is something comforting in thinking that there will be tangible evidence that I existed.

So what do you do with your quilts? I've shown some of mine that are hanging on the wall, I have a table runner on my breakfast bar, a quilt on the table by our door. Generally, though, I make BIG quilts. Everyone in the house has at least two quilts of their own. There are quilts on all of our beds. During the winter months, I have two on the bed and two extra folded at the bottom, one for me and one for my husband should we need extra covers.

Layering on the bed is also a good way to store them. In our case, it doesn't work well because my husband is tall and folding the extras down to the bottom doesn't work because then they are laying on his feet. One day I'll have a bench at the end of our bed so that I can keep more quilts on the bed and fold them down onto the bench. For now, I have this footstool, made to go with my lounging chair. I do sometimes stack up folded quilts on this.

Another great way to store quilts is a quilt rack. My husband bought me a beautiful cherry wood one shortly after I started quilting. It was a long time before I had any quilts to put on it, it mostly held works in progress. It's not accessible at the moment, but soon it will be out again and I'll be able to show it.

I have a second rack as well. This one our son made for a school competition in metals. I'll bet they never saw a quilt rack in that competition before! His friend's father is a plumber and supplied them with the necessary tools, supplies and hints to make their projects. This sits in our family room and holds the quilts that the kids and their friends are able to use. I just might have the only quilt rack made out of plumbers pipe!

Another great way to store quilts is over the back of chairs or couches. I often do this, especially in the winter months. We keep our heat low and our family room gets cold, our quilts get lots of use in the winter and the kids' friends feel free to cover up, too. It's fun to peek downstairs and see them all watching a movie, covered in colorful quilts.

My sewing room is open to the downstairs family room, there is a railing between them. I also store quilts on the railing, they can be seen and enjoyed and are out of the way. There is also a small section of railing upstairs, it is LOADED with quilts at the moment while I work on where to store them all. I'm playing with the idea of a quilt rack built onto the wall that will hold a bunch of quilts.

So while finding places for all my quilts is a dilemma, it's a rather pleasant one. It's sometimes shocking for me to look around and see so many finished quilts when for so long there were very few of my finished works in my own house.

The frame quilt is getting to the place where it's getting more exciting to work on. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and today I'll be working on bringing that light a little closer. It's a gorgeous summer day here and a beautiful breeze is flowing through the house. It might be too windy to quilt outside (though I may try later, when my swing is shaded) so for now I'll work on the frame quilt while chatting with my kids and waiting for the ballgame to come on TV.

Happy quilting!