Meet my friend Laura — we have known each other since we were in kindergarten and she is still one of my dearest friends.

Laura is pregnant with her first child and due this month! When your childhood BFF is pregnant, and you’re a fan of handmade gifts — the pressure is high! When I first heard Laura was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make her something really special, but I wasn’t sure what it should be. Although I adore the rag quilts I made for baby Liam and baby Sophia last year, I wanted the project for Laura to be one-of-a-kind — not a repeat of one of my previous projects. Laura also sews (Reason #923498723 why I love her) and has made a number of items for her baby’s nursery, so making another quilt didn’t feel very earth-shattering since she had already conquered rag quilts herself.  I was also looking for a project that would stand the test of time.

A few years ago, I received the book “Countdown Calendars” for my birthday, at my request, because I had fallen in love with the birthday countdown calendar pictured on the cover. I even wrote about the book in my blog.

Knowing that Laura has a very close-knit family with lots of family traditions, I decided that this was the time to tackle that pattern and make a quilted birthday countdown calendar for the baby. And by the way, this pattern happens to be on my list of 100 No Pressure Projects!

At first, it sort of seems like a weird gift for a baby, but I believe many family traditions start with the birth of the first child. I wanted to provide something Laura’s newly expanded family could look forward to using together year after year… and what better day to start celebrating the baby’s birthday than on the day it’s born?

Laura and her hubby are waiting until the baby is born to find out if it’s a girl or a boy, which worked out perfectly for this project which should remain neutral anyway.

Here’s how it works — each day leading up to a family member’s birthday, you Velcro a felt candle to the cake. Once you use  up all the candles, it’s your birthday! And then there’s a little Happy Birthday banner that snaps to the top.

The candles are stored in fourteen little pockets at the bottom of the wall hanging.

Isn’t it so fun!?

Laura lives across the country and I wasn’t able to attend her baby shower. Since I couldn’t be there in person, I wrote a poem to explain the reasoning behind the gift and how it works. I won’t post the poem here, because it’s a little mushy, but what I basically said was this: For your entire life, you’ve always celebrated your own birth date. And then you met your husband, and the date of his birthday became really important to you too. Now, your little duo is about to expand to a family of three, and you’ll be adding a third date to the mix – the birthday of your baby! So every year, hang up this little calendar — and count down to that special day!

Okay, maybe my poem summary was equally mushy! Oh well. 😉

Can’t wait to meet your little one, Laura, and celebrate his or her birthday with you for years to come!