Naming Quilts

I didn't know that quilts had names until it was time to fill out entry forms for my first entries in our local guild's quilt show. Those quilts were named after the fact, while I was filling out entry forms the week before the deadline.

Since then I've changed the way I name quilts. I start thinking about the quilt name while I am making it. Sometimes the name comes to me early and easily. Sometimes it doesn't come to me until the quilt is finished. Sometimes I have to settle for a name for lack of a better one. If the name feels right, it helps me bond with the quilt. Some of my favorites include:

1. It's Like Sleeping With My Stash. This quilt had over 550 different fabrics and I found it all in my stash.
2. Jane Doe - A Quilt With No Name. I was having a hard time naming this quilt and kept referring to it as the quilt with no name. Eventually that phrase reminded me of the old song, A Horse With No Name. When I searched for lyrics for that song, I found a website with ideas for naming horses. (Wouldn't it be nice to have a website with ideas for naming quilts?) I called the quilt Jane Doe because that is the name one uses when the real name is unknown and kept the quilt-with-no-name part for fun.
3. No Piecing Required, Just Quilt As Desired. This was a small wholecloth quilt about 25" square. The name was bigger than the quilt.
4. American Spirit. This was the quilt I made after the 9/11 attacks. It was a murky, scrappy quilt in blues, reds, tans, and golds. It symbolized the ability for a country to endure through dark days and survive.
5. Bittersweet. Fall is my favorite time of year. My birthday is 9/14. Around that time of year, I find myself using fall colors. I was enjoying the September weather and this quilt with its leaf blocks tremendously. Then it was 9/11 and what was normally the best time of the year became anything but.
6. Summertime. This Cups and Saucers block quilt was done in pastels with a nile green background. I made it in the summer and it was reminding me of warm summer afternoons and sipping ice tea on the back porch. Around the same time, I got a George Gershwin CD with the song Summertime on it. Check out the lyrics. "Summertime and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high." The cotton is high! That is the case at my house. It is folded on 5' wide shelves taller than me.
7. Rhapsody in Blue and Purple and Green. This is a continuation of the Gershwin theme. I was listening to Rhapsody in Blue and working on a quilt in blue, purple, and green. I looked up rhapsody in the dictionary and found that it is derived from rhaptein, which means to stitch.

I like humorous names best, except when it comes to quilts like American Spirit and Bittersweet. If the quilt has too lofty of a name, I feel more pressure for perfection. I try not to take things too seriously and just have fun. When I'm relaxed, things go well.