Baby quilts, young and old(ish)

What is (or was) the most important or special item from your childhood?  Was it a special doll, a lovie, a bike?  

This question came up recently at my parent's house and my sister and I agreed, the most special item for us both were the quilts my mom made when we were about five (me) and three (my sister).  I was about to enter into kindergarten and was not going to be able to bring my blankie with me everywhere I went.  Being the crafty lady she is, my mom used my blankie as a part of a small quilt made up of other special fabrics that I was able to bring to school for nap time.  

There were the orange and orange-with-hearts fabrics from a teddy bear my mom had made for me as a baby, the soft floral fabric from my first robe, and the multicolored checked fabric from a teddy bear that she made for my sister.  This quilt is now almost 25 years old and is still going strong, cuddling with me and my daughter.

(ha - you can see that there was no measuring!)

For Christmas, one of my main presents for Ella was her own Mama-made quilt.  I used a bunch of her receiving blankets and cut various shapes and lengths.  There was no measuring involved and I edged it with a silky ribbon from a wrap shirt of mine.  

Then I quilted the heck out of it...  Now this was my first quilting project and, well, I quilted so much it's pretty stiff!  A bit too stiff to wrap comfortably around miss Ella-Bean, but it has become the perfect blanket for her to sleep on (and believe me, with the amount of quilting I did, there is no risk of suffocation - this quilt is not exactly pillowy...not even a little.)  

At nearly 15 months, Ella has attached to two blankies of her own, so I'll have to hone my quilting skills for another special quilt that will hopefully be one of her most important childhood items as well.