A great finish to the month of March and I feel good!

 Stephanie from our Heartstrings group suggested to me that I try her monthly plan which has the last week of the month set aside for quilting.  I was feeling quite stressed about how many quilt tops I had hanging and then the tension rod they hang on fell... what a mess so I now have two tension rods, hoping that won't happen again.  

There were a number of quilt tops taken off and completed... what a relief because I have lots more blocks from last year and earlier this year to get put together in more quilt tops to go on hangers.  

I started last Sunday, prepping for some quilting by getting some batting cut and backings ready and Monday, after tennis, I was raring to go.  I figured I would push it hard for the first couple of days as you never know what might happen in our lives to throw me off my goal of getting 5 finished. The first is my Solstice quilt from Pat Sloan in 2016.  It doesn't look like hers did because I made mine smaller.  A king size quilt was needed by me at all.  This one is quilted and bound!

A 2023 scrappy string pieced quilt is quilted and bound and has left the house!

Urban Chic is a 3 yard quilt from Fabric Cafe... ignore the error in the quilt, no one is perfect and I don't claim to be but, honestly, I didn't see this mistake until I saw this picture.  All three of these quilts have gone to my presenter for Quilts of Valour.  He had requests for 5 quilts and I knew he would be short with what he had on hand so he now has a much larger selection for the recipients. 

This is the stack of quilts that have been quilted and waiting for me make binding for them.  There is my mystery, the 3 yard attraction and a Quilt of Valour by Darlene.   The 16 patches on my design wall have been stitched together and both now reside on hangers waiting their turn for quilting.

Bindings are made for the other quilts that are ready for that final step.  I have two Bento boxes, and two aqua quilts made from some of the plastic bags of fabric tossed at me during a modern guild meeting. 

This quilt is one that was made by Janet and given to me for Quilts of  Valour and was included in the stack of quilts I handed over for presentations in the Fraser Valley.  

The stack of orphan blocks continues to grow ... some from my Wednesday group but most are from my stash of lonely blocks without a home or purpose.

This is round two of orphan blocks on my design wall.  Round three is waiting patiently. 

My next challenge is to deal with all my aging floral fabrics... the bin is open and waiting for me.

Round three of orphan blocks on design wall.  Round four is waiting. In the meantime, a good friend dropped off a load of manure for us.  This is after I moved five wheelbarrow loads down the hill to the bottom garden and top dressed all my upper flower gardens.  Hoping tomorrow I can get this job finished as my husband isn't capable of handling the wheelbarrow down the steep hill between our houses.

I had a quilting friend see this and she loved the idea of how I keep my strips tidy while working on the orphan blocks.  A clothes rack is perfect.

And there are plus blocks waiting

 

Eleven tops are quilted!  Not all are bound but they  will be by mid week and then time to think about all my April projects. Planning to quilt for the last week of the month was a brilliant plan that works for me.  I still have a large number of tops on hangers plus blocks that need to be assembled into quilt tops from last year and earlier this year.  I was hoping to get 5 or 6 done and managed to finish 11 so that gives me hope for the end of April and finishing up another 6 or more?  I will enjoy my piecing more knowing that I am making progress in the finishing of the tops.

Time for me to generate a new list of what I want to accomplish in April.  So many ideas and so little time. The orphan blocks will get done as my number one priority.  Playing with old floral fabrics is important and getting that bin reduced somewhat in the amount of fabric in there and, putting together a couple of quilt tops using the plus blocks.  

Happy Easter to all... time for a renewal of energy and spirit plus some spring flowers and weather.  

Mid March was last week: not sure if my quilting is relaxing or stressful?

 Time flies when you are having fun?  or maybe when your list of what you want to accomplish is far too long and almost impossible to get all of it done?  At least there are still 9 days left this month.  I did have a comment from a friend as to how she divides her month up for time and she allots the last week of the month for quilting.  That is going to be new plan... quilt some of these quickly accumulating tops the last week of every month.  I am hoping for 4... 5 would be awesome.  

The list from the last post: 

Time to get to work on the March projects but February was productive. My list for March is:

1. Rainbow scrap blocks in purples (rail fence, Bundle & Bows, criss cross star, L blocks, garlic knots

2. Oopsie daisy blocks in purples

3. Alpha blocks put together Material Girls February

4. PBJ for March in reds

5. Mystery quilt next step when published on Mar 7

6. Work on the solstice blocks (ancient UFO)

7.  Finish up the 16 patches and put together into quilt tops

8. Heartstrings challenge is 'kits' for March and I have lots of those on hand.

9. Kimberbell St.Patrick day table runner to make (a very UFO) 

10. Clean up and price my extra rulers

11. Modern guild block for the March block lotto

12. Grid Girls March block: Charlie 

13. 3 yard Echo from Material Cirls

14. House block for Survivor quilts 

15. Plus blocks from 2023 RSC

16. Quilts of Valour maritime blocks for 2024 

17. Bento Box blocks - 2 quilts? 

I feel better doing the strike through on many of these projects but more have been added as the month has progressed.  Lots of pictures here of what I have accomplished.  First is the 3 yard Attraction.  Those two Canadian themed blocks got moved to a different location but the top is now put together. 

 A break from quilting to admire my Christmas/Thanksgiving cactus deciding to give us some blooms.

A call came out from Quilts for Survivors for orphan blocks to be handed in at Quilt Canada in June.  The only stipulation was that they need to be 12.5".  Well... that led to a search as I knew I had lots and some are probably 20 years old... maybe older?  I started digging and this is the start of the search. 

The next few quilt tops were handed over to me for quilting for Quilts of Valour.  Great use of a panel in this one.

Maple leaves are an excellent way to use up your stash of autumn colour fabrics.

A couple of finishes that began the month:  This is Connection, a 3 yd quilt that was made from blocks stitched from my stash in Arizona in February.  The pattern is found in a book by Fabric Cafe.

In February, Quilts of Valour hosted a national sew day and this block, called Connections (free on QOV Canada) was featured with a demonstration on how to make it.  I used some of my red and white stash in Arizona and then brought the blocks home and added in an assortment of Canadian themed fabrics to complete the quilt top.

This is the quilt that was made from my Patterns by Jen in 2023.  These blocks are made monthly with the block pattern and her choice of colour and I make two, each with the dark and light reversed. 

Urban Chic is a 3 yard pattern that was cut and kitted up last December so that I had easy projects to take to our monthly guild sew ins.  It is now put together and waiting for quilting.

Rainbow scrap challenge project #1.  I have chosen to do too many this year but hoping my scraps diminish... not likely! 

A friend made me a super cute pickleball mug rug... I only play once a week and play tennis two or three times a week but this is so sweet.

I finished up my March patterns by Jen - again, two blocks with light and dark reversed.  Under those is a bento box pattern I played with for Quilts of Valour - not my favourite choice of fabrics.

My project Solstice from a block of the week by Pat Sloan in 2016? I need to check that date but it was awhile ago.  The blocks lived on a hanger all this time and I had a entire bag of fabrics to use for finishing the blocks.  If I had followed her directions, it would have made a huge quilt and I don't 'do' big quilts for quilting and donating.  So, I pondered the blocks on the way and ended up putting a sashing around some of them.  In hindsight, I think I should have added a light sashing so that all the blocks floated but my motto: "finished is better than perfect".  This is now waiting for quilting and binding and then will be donated.  I had a lot of extra fabrics that have been out of circulation from my stash for too long.  I took the time to fold and organize them and they are all back in the fabric cupboard and can be used as needed. There were some extra blocks - more orphan blocks for Quilts for survivors.

The final step in the mystery was released on March 7th and this top is done and waiting for quilting/binding.  Not my usual type of quilt to make but when you make it one step at a time every month, always interesting to see the final result. 

Some of the orphan blocks that I pulled out and added borders to so that they would be 12.5" and now set aside for Survivor donation. 

And then six more done and had a brilliant idea to use up some of my floral fabrics for the next set of borders.

Survivor quilts also asked for a donation of a house block from each of us that have been contributing to their group.  I started at the very beginning, during Covid, when Vanessa had the brilliant idea of make a few quilts for donation.  Her idea has grown exponentially! 

Rainbow scrap challenge blocks #2: star blocks

And number 3 is a block called Bundles and bows.  I had to watch the video again for the method as I messed up a little on the first set of green blocks and was confused on the red blocks.  Hopefully, the purple blocks are done correctly.  They do look good all together and there will be a couple of quilts made from these as the blocks are big and I am making too many each month.  Two blocks use four 10" squares: 2 of background and 2 of colour with one colour supposed to be lighter than the other.  One block has a coloured center and the other had the background in the center.  

These are fun blocks #4  to make and in the end will all be mixed up to create a fun pattern.

Block #5 is a garlic knot block which also will look good with all the varieties of fabrics mixed up in the final quilt top.

Two bento box quilt tops completed.  Jelly rolls were the choice of precut for Heartstrings in February and mine are done, waiting for quilting.  Hoping these will make fun quilts for Canuck place or Ronald MacDonald house?

I sorted my orphan blocks by size from largest to smallest and working my way through them.  Some of them were the right size and got put into the bag immediately, the others are going to take some time to work through. 

I also bagged up some of my leftover batting strips.  If anyone is making rugs, these strips would be perfect or, if doing some small projects where a small piece is good.  Or, someone with lots of time, could join the strips into larger pieces for baby quilts.

Oopsie daisy is Bonnie Hunter's leader and ender and it has turned into a Rainbow scrap challenge as I decided to do a monthly colour rather than mixing and matching scrap fabrics.  Great way to use up scrappy neutrals.

Alpha was a block from Material girls - a 3 yard February pattern and I decided to add the flag into the center.  It made the quilt larger and I think it calmed the bright red/orange down a little?  Another top ready for quilting.

Last but not least, these are some community quilts made for the Modern guild using fabrics from bags tossed at us by Leon.  I made these two tops from those and still have more to do. 

Two of these quilts were tops made at modern guild in December and I brought one of them home to finish up (the turquoise striped one) and my quilting buddy took mine and another to her retreat to quilt.  She gave both of to me to bind and turn into the guild last week.  I bound the two on the right and they are gone from my house! 

A good three works of accomplishment but I was a bit stressed when I looked at how many tops I have waiting for quilting.  I will start cutting batting and making some backings this weekend in the hopes of getting a few of them off hangers and out into the community as donations.