Making Ready a Plan

I find myself in between deadlines. Sure, there are unfinished projects (plenty of them), but nothing pressing. So, I am starting a new process, a new project, a new craft. I want to make a quilt coverlet for our bed to replace the tired old store-bought thing we now have. I want it to be fresh, bold, modern, clean. I want it to tell a story and last many years. I dug into flickr for some inspiration and here's what I came up with. It's sort of all over the place but it's a start.


1. Vintage Scarf Quilt by Ouno Design, 2. Birds & Blooms baby quilt back, 3. Two Baby Quilts, 4. The back of Strips and Bricks Quilt, 5. Front., 6. "Box of Chocolates" Quilt_02-25-09_09, 7. quilt, 8. "It Takes A Village", 9. blocks and stripes quilt, 10. Hideaway quilt, 11. Bridie's Quilt, 12. The Tree Quilt, 13. Waves of Green Quilted Wall Hanging, 14. Work Quilt, 15. five blocks, 16. fall, 17. 'proposal moon', 18. The Gobstopper Quilt, 19. DQS8 #1 "Think Spring", 20. Birthday Quilt

I haven't quilted before, but surely I can do this. I know the basic steps but I also know there are a million different ways to do it and infinite possibilities for the end product. I have a little less than six months. I'm aiming for 15th anniversary territory. No time (or money) for a class, I'm going to rely on the wonderful world of blogging quilters (and maybe a book) to figure this one out. Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?