Some quilts are well-planned

My youngest cousin decided on her first child's name long before she got pregnant. My cousin loves the ocean; she met her husband while they were both diving instructors. They still live close to a beach and go there often. It was a given that their first child's name would be Ga'al, which means "wave" in Hebrew. There's an old Hebrew kids' story that begins "Gaal is a girl of the sea", and we all knew my cousin's child would be this kind of girl.
When my cousin got pregnant, I already knew what kind of quilt I'd make her for the baby. It had to be Sea themed, and colorful. I decided to plan the pattern myself, rather than look in a book, and happily sat down with graph paper and a ruler. I sat and drew, and erased, and drew some more, and finally came up with two types of fish patterns. In those days I did not use a rotary cutter. Instead I drew out the pattern pieces on construction paper, and used the templates to draw the shapes on fabric. Making Ga'al's quilt, I sat at my coffee table, drawing on fabric and watching tv. I drew the fishes out of different kinds of fabric, to incorporate different designs and colors, and then had to figure out how to lay them out.
Here's what I ended up doing:

Though you can't see it in the picture, the border of the quilt is red with little fishes all over it. I finished it in time for the baby's birth, and sent it off to Israel. Ga'al is a little girl now, and she still loves the water.