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.