March recap

I thought that I'd learned my lesson about putting things off - I always seem to get caught on the last day of the month with something unfinished!
But, I've had lots of finishes for the month too - my Quilty 365 blocks and 2 of my five Pieced Tulip blocks for the Rainbow Scrappy Challenge.  I'll post the other 3 when I have a bit more time to get them completed.
The colour for March was purple, and I have 5 very different shades of purple for my tulips - but I only managed to finish the 2nd darkest one and the lightest one - have a look:

The black centers stand out really well in some of the blocks, but there's not a lot of contrast in some of the other ones.  That shouldn't be a problem for April - the colour is orange, so those blocks should really pop!

Next up is the last 11 Quilty 365 blocks.  This last week has seen 3 family birthdays to celebrate - a sister, a brother, and my dad.  The block in the bottom row with the dress shoes is for him; one of the black and white ones is for Good Friday - a dark day in many ways, yet with a hint of the brightness and joy to come!

And here are all of my March Quilty 365 blocks together:

I've managed to keep this up so far - 91 blocks - but, will I make it all the way to the end in December?  You'll have to stay tuned to find out!  I'll be linking up to Quilty Folk for all the March reveals.

My design wall Mon. Mar. 21, 2016

I haven't disappeared yet!  I totally missed blogging last week - long story - but I'm here again today.  I thought I'd share what's on my "design floor", my Quilty 365 blocks, and my newest project(s).
I'm going to start with my Quilty 365 blocks.  These Dancing Plus blocks are so much fun, and they're so easy to make!  I didn't post my blocks for Mar. 7-13, so I'll show them first, followed by last week's blocks:

You can see that I've pulled some purple fabrics for my Rainbow Scrappy Challenge blocks (I don't have any of them sewn up yet); I've also found some really fun fabrics, and I just HAD to include them - there are chocolates in the first week's pics, and these chickens from last week just make me happy!

Next up is the information that I'm going to be participating in Hands2Help again this year.  The charity that was chosen for Canadian quilters is the Yukon Women's Transition Home.  They need quilts for adult women and for boys and girls.  

Sarah posted about the quilts that were needed a few weeks ago, and I decided that the 2 kid's quilts that I had started a few weeks earlier would be perfect for this project.  I was in the process of purging some of my quilt books, and found one that I had set aside because it had 1 pattern in it that I wanted to make.  Somehow, it didn't make sense to hold on to the book for 1 quilt, so I pulled a few fabrics, cut some block segments, and sewed together 2 groups of blocks.  I've laid them out on my floor - one is a random layout; the other one is more controlled.  I'm not sure which layout works best, but it's obvious that I'm going to have to do a bit more cutting and sewing to finish these tops!  Here they are:

The quilts will each get at least one border, and then I'll be getting them layered, quilted and ready to go!  The first "progress" check-in is set for April 17th, so I'm hoping to have the tops assembled by then.  They should be ready to mail out by May 22nd, so, barring any drastic events between now and then, I should have them out the door by that date.  It's not too late to join up for this very worthy project - just click the link on my sidebar.

I'm going to link up to Judy's Design Wall post - there's lots of inspiration there!

A new month begins...

And the blocks keep getting sewn up for Quilty 365!
Hubby and I had the opportunity to go to Toronto this past Thursday to see the Canadian Ripley Aquarium - what a beautiful experience!  I have no idea how many varieties of marine life they showcase there, but it's absolutely breath-taking!  We're already talking about going there again sometime.
So, to remember that day (not that I'd forget it any time soon!), I hunted up some very special fabric that I've had for years.  It was supposed to be for a child's quilt, but it was in my very early quilting days, and I didn't realize when I cut it that I'd have to be very careful, because it's a directional print.  Of course, I cut far too many horizontal pieces and not enough vertical pieces, so that project became one of my oldest WIPs.  So, if it's not going to work out for that particular pattern, no one's going to miss just a wee bit of the fabric - and here's the block that I made for Mar. 3rd:

I already shared my block for Monday as part of February's blocks, so there are only 6 to show for this week - and here they are together: 

The dark blue (top left corner) was the perfect representation for March 1st - snowy and blustery!  If the saying "In like a lion, out like a lamb" holds true, we may have a calm and warmer end to our month - I have my fingers crossed.

Finally, Kat of Kat and Cat Quilts is hosting a quilt block drive.  She started a charity (Covered in Love) to provide quilts for patients at the end of their lives.  Each month, she posts a block with instructions - quilters are then challenged to make the blocks, which she then assembles into quilts.  This month, she chose to have us make Grownup Eye-spy blocks.  I've got 9 ready to send to her - and I'm sharing two of them with you:

The blocks take about half an hour to make once the cutting is done - and I know she'd love to receive lots of blocks!

Next week Sunday is the kick-off for Hands2Help 2016 - I'm hoping to be involved with that charity event again.  The Canadian charity this year is Yukon Transition Home - so check in next weekend to see what I'm hoping to accomplish.

And, as always, I appreciate you reading what I'm up to!

I'm going to link up to Oh Scrap! and Scraptastic Tuesday over at she can quilt.