If I set out to make a quilt for someone, it goes to them, but if I just start making a quilt for no reason, it tends to live at our house. The exception is if the quilt begins to really speak to me while I'm making it. If the colors and design really start to remind me of someone, and I find myself thinking of them while I'm making it, I find I just have to give it to them.
The first example of this was when my youngest daughter was in 2nd grade. Her teacher was expecting a baby girl. I happened to be working on a Lucky Star quilt in batiks that leaned to girl colors. The top had been a garage sale rescue that I purchased for $5. The gal's MIL was a LQS owner, and I guess she lost interest in the project. I picked it up, finished it and LAQ'ed it at my friends. The entire time I was making this quilt, I was thinking of this teacher and that it just belonged to that new baby she was expecting. This is the biggest baby gift I've ever given someone other than my sisters. While I got the 'kit' for the top for a great price, the 3 yards of flannel for the back (it was throw size, not standard baby sized) and quilting cost me about $80.-
Recently I made a Right Turn Bag from the video tutorial on Anna Marie Horner's blog. I just happened to have some of her fabrics and unknowingly decided to use them on this project. The bag calls for foundation piecing strips to fusible batting and then embellishing the strips with ribbon and embroidery stitches. I spent hours and hours on this bag and even added a row of pockets to the lining and figured out how to put in a firm bottom. It was perfect, except it reminded me of my friend Alissa. When it was done, even my 11 year old daughter asked if the bag was for Alissa, because that's who the fabrics reminded her of. That was around Halloween, I tried to use it a couple of times, but it really didn't feel like my bag. I finally broke down and delivered it to her last week. She was ecstatic. That's why It had to go to her.