March was a productive month.

I am pretty amazed at all I accomplished this month. 

Instead of getting to work on March's UFO I did get a little crazy and grab a totally different project off the shelf.  It was cut out and ready to sew.  I had started it a while back....Although I can't remember exactly how far back that might be.

The quilt is called Summer and it uses Little Ruby Scrumptious (I realized I had that wrong after I posted, of course) fabric by Bonnie and Camille.  That will give you a little idea of how old it is.

After I completed that one I actually started on another new quilt.  I just needed to work with spring and summer colors as we were having a bunch of rain.

This one is made following the Perfect Ten Pattern by Swirly Girls, the fabric is Florabunda by Benartex.  Bought before the move.  

Sorry for the bad picture.  It was the first day of spring and the sun was actually shining.   But it was highlighting that one spot on the quilt as it came in the windows.  This took 10 fat quarters.  The aqua around the blocks and a boarder.  I actually pulled it all from stash.

At this point my daughter reminded me that I still needed to do my March UFO.  So I pulled it out.

This is called the Triple Barn Star.  It was a workshop on Craftsy by Amy Gibson, many moons ago.  The original pattern did not call for a boarder.  But the quilt finished at 72 x 72 without a boarder on it.  I had bought fabric to put on the back and had added additional fabric so that I could use the same thing for the boarder.  The fabric is Birch Lane by Joel Dewberry.  I think the reason I signed up for the workshop was because of the fabric.  Again I have no idea how old this project is.  I got stopped at the boarder.  Once I got the boarders cut it only took me a few hours to finish the top and make a back.  

So that was March 23rd that I finished this one.  The month was not over yet.

What should I work on next?

I decided that I wanted to do something quick and easy.

I had bought some Lily & Loom last year because I wanted to check out the fabric.  I was going to make a little quilt to give to a friends child but with the move that did not happen.  I decided that it would be a quick quilt and pulled it out.

It was quick but I noticed that the charm pack was cut a little differently than the ones I have from Moda.  The pinked edges are a little deeper, if that makes sense.  Also they were about 5 and 1/16 to 1/8 in size.  So before I cut the block that needed to be cut I trimmed them to 5 inches.  I did wish that I had remembered to trim the squares but by the time I realized that I hadn't I had already started sewing.  So I guessed on where I should be sewing.  As my mom used to say, I did them 'by guess and by golly'.  But they worked out.

I do have some more of this fabric that I have for another little quilt.  It was pretty easy to work with and if feels pretty good.  I am not sure I will buy precuts again but I do like the fabric and Craftsy does have some really good sales.

So that has been my March.  Tomorrow we will have grandkids all day because they are starting their spring break so I don't think I will get much more sewing done this month.  

It feels really good to empty a few project bins.   I am hoping to be just as productive in April.  We will need to start working outside soon on the yard so my productivity will depend on the weather.

I have been working

February was a good month for getting things done.

I completed my UFO for the month early in the month.  Since it was only the 6th by the time I completed the top I made a little heart quilt.  I blogged about those already.

When the Olympics started and I wanted to watch several of the events I started binding a quilt.  I got it done and given last Sunday.  It was the first Reflections quilt that I made for my youngest daughter.  It is a king size so it took a while for me to get it done.  It was really hard to get a picture of it.  It was a dark rainy day and the thing is huge so very hard to lay out.  I draped it on my stationary bike.  That is the most action that bike has seen in awhile.

 This picture was taken with it folded on the couch but even with a light right next to it it turned out dark.  Much better light in the sun room but it is crowded in there.

I also moved on to another of my UFO's.  I was working on a Christmas quilt but got stopped when I needed to lay out the blocks and did not have room.   So instead I pulled out an easier project and repaired a quilt that had been damaged by our dog, Moose. My husband had tossed it across the top of the dog kennel and he had pulled an edge into the kennel and chewed a hole in it.   I had worked on getting that done several times but fixing a quilt is just not something I enjoy doing.  The first thing I had done is take out a bunch of the quilting and replace a part of the back fabric and a section of the boarder.  After doing that I noticed that I missed a few holes further out so decided to applique a patch on to cover them.  That is what I did yesterday.  It just needs to be re-quilted now. Not cutting up my fabric right away paid off this time.  I still had some of the boarder fabric and I was able to visit the store that the backing fabric came from and buy more.  This is the second quilt that I have repaired that Moose chewed up.  The first time I was covered with a quilt and he was laying at my feet.  I did not realize he was chewing on the quilt.  We no longer have Moose but it was not the quilt chewing that had us rehome him.  We did that after he broke my leg in three places and I could not take care of him while I was non-weight bearing.  Shoot I could hardly take care of myself and I could not get out of the house or walk him.

Here is the applique I added.

I basically cut out some leaves and did needle turn applique to cover the holes.


The second quilt that I need to repair is a quilt belonging to my youngest daughter that her dog chewed a hole in.  I plan on just putting a patch on that one.  I have found a couple of orphan blocks but I am not liking how that will look so am thinking of going with something different.  I am a good mom.  At least her dog has never chewed on another quilt.  I don't know how many more quilts I would be willing to repair.

Since I worked ahead on my list when I come to that number on my list I will just add something new.  I have plenty of projects I can add.  I need to get some items completed and out of my room.

I have continued to sort and purge as I unpack and put fabric on the shelf.  I also used my label maker to label all the project bins.  Once I have a full list I will have to make decisions on the ones that I no longer love and will very likely never complete.  Right now the number of project bins is overwhelming.  My husband says at this rate I have to live to be a thousand.  I thought about starting one of them this month, we will have to see if I do.  When I thought about it I was having trouble choosing one.  That is a bad sign.  One day I was having a lot of trouble coming to grips with everything I have.  Before and during the move I did a lot of purging but it was really not enough.  We still have to much stuff for our smaller house.  However, I had already got rid of the easy stuff to let go of, now I have to make the tougher decisions.  I have been told that I will have to go thru the stuff three times to be effective. 

The other list I should be making is my list of quilts that need to be bound.  My oldest daughter completed the quilting on four more quilts this month of quilts I made in the past.  That adds to the ones I already have.  Luckily my son-in-law is completing the binding on one of them.  He actually likes binding and since it gives him a good excuse to 'watch' TV in the evening he will sit and bind.  He also gave up Twitter and Facebook for Lent so he has more time.  Right now my daughter has number two of the Reflections quilts on her machine.  That one happens to be for her so maybe I can get her husband to bind that one also.  Even after that one she has more to do.  When she quilted for customers mine always got put on hold.  Now she is attempting to get everything quilted.  I am not even sure how many of mine she has.

This month I will also be making some backs for some of her quilt tops.  I think she dropped by five for me to make backs for.  

Looks like March will be busy also.  Since it is still raining I should have plenty of indoor time before I need to work in the garden.