Spring is my favorite time of year, but it also means my time in my quilting room is greatly reduced... 
Spring cleaning here is perhaps far more demanding outdoors than it is indoors. 
At this point, most of the annuals in my gardens are planted & today I hope to finish planting everything else.

I made it through my first month of "A Lovely Year of Finishes". Thankfully, I set my goal low... so I actually completed my task & then some!


I have a nasty past with a rotary cutter, as the ER & person who had the joy of stitching my left pointer back together will tell you. So I gloved up, used a fresh blade, ruler, and mat...
and committed to a long weekend of cutting.

Success: I cut 253 dark blocks & 259 lights of assorted dotted fabrics... woooohooo!

Proudly- I marched with my project box to my quilt guild newcomers bee ready to sew them all back together...

SIX! 

We paper pieced 6 of those precut rectangles into narrow strips to complete ONE part of a block!!! AND it would take 4 of those plus 5 other pieces to actually complete one full block!

My friend Trish was stuck teaching & reteaching me paper piecing until FINALLY it clicked. 
But I actually left her that day ready to piece on my own.

I am in the middle of another major quilting project, but have managed to complete 16 "block" pieces. 
I have a long way to go... but am proud to have met this first goal.

TY to all for adding the motivation.

It has been a hectic month. Someone very dear to me had a double lung transplant 4 weeks ago today! She is amazing and gets a bit stronger each day! I made her a special pillow to cough in to (a part of recovery exercises). It can also act as

protection from her seatbelt. I sewed in a ribbon so it could hang on her shoulder like a purse.
Hang in there Jodi... every day will get a bit better... so just breathe...

A month of rectangles...

Quilting is my passion. Alas, time commitments & other distractions often limit my time for it. I am joining a group called "Fiber of all sorts". (I am already 4 months late for their "Loverly Year of Finishes- Goal Setting Party")
My friend Tricia recommended it as a good way to make both short and long term quilting goals. (I have an absurd stack of UFO's).

So here goes. My very first blog post.

My quilt guild is beginning a new project called "Completely Dotty". I adore the bright colors and opportunity to learn a new skill (paper piecing). It gave me an excuse to shop for lots of new fabric.

But the very first task is to cut 250 light & 250 dark 3 X 6" rectangles. It is daunting!
So I have set my goal for the month of April as just that.

By May 1st I will have cut 500 rectangles and begin going dotty!