To Do Tuesday: Happy National Quilting Month!

There is something special brewing for this Merry Month of March!  It is National Quilt Month and on Saturday the 21st it will be National Quilting Day!  

To start the month's festivities off,  you should check out this Instagram post for an opportunity to get a free Missouri Star Quilt Co. pattern:

Next are some suggestions from the Quilt Alliance for how to plan to spend National Quilting Day:

May I also recommend an excellent and very special podcast that my non-quilter son passed along to me:  Quilters Joe Cunningham and Luke Haynes and museum curator and textile conservator Olivia Joseph were interviewed about the "History of Quilting" on Allie Ward's "Ologies" podcast.  Their discussions cover the various fabric, quilt and creative piecing styles that have developed over the centuries.  They also discuss quilting's ever evolving position in the craft and art worlds.  My family is good about keeping their eyes and ears open to things related to this craft that I love so much!!

Before I can focus on all the craft month celebrations (well, I have already listened to the podcast),  I need to get back to the work at hand!  As always,  I am happy to join in with everyone linking up for "To Do Tuesday" hosted by Carol over at "Quilt Schmilt" and talk about the doings from the past week and what's on my agenda for the current one.  

The list of things on my last "To Do Tuesday" report was as follows:

1.  Trim and bind the UFO I longarmed while I was away.  

Done!  As usual I had hoped to get it done sooner but finished is better than timely! 

I still have to clip any visible basting stitches, trim some threads and bury their knots and apply the label I made for it.  Then the "Finished Or Not Friday" post that should have gone up last week can go up at the end of this one!

2.  Continue quilting "Modern Twist" as this month's UFO Challenge finish.  

Nope, didn't get to it since "Pulpit Tile" took longer to finish than expected.  But now that the other one is almost done,  I can go back to work on this at some point later this week.  

3.  Cut out the next set of "Alaska" BOM blocks and get at least one pieced together.  

Also done!  And the good news is that all the piecing in the block gave me the opportunity to do some leader/ender sewing with two other projects as well.

4.  Finish piecing the "Freedom Stars" QOV top.

Not totally done but definitely moved a little further along.  I've now got eight rows of the center pieced so only four more rows to go and then I can sew the whole center together.  This was one of the projects I used to leader/ender with the "Alaska" block and push the pieces for that project out from under the needle.  

I think that going forward this week, I want to try to do some 30 minute daily sewing sessions during which I can get another "Alaska" block done and hopefully the rest of the center rows for this completed as well.

5.  Continue working on the layout of the "Picture That" QOV top with the new fabrics for it that I picked up in NC.

Nope and until "Freedom Stars" gets done, this one will have to wait to get up on the design wall.

6.  Do the finishing work on the completed "Year of the Horse" cross stitch.  

Nope, didn't get to this one.  I did make the final decision on which of the fabrics I had put with it that I will use for the finishing step.  The floral will surround the piece in the front and the other print will go on the back.  I am thinking that I would also like to find some trim to add around the edges of it as well.  Sigh, another time when the loss of Joann's hits hard!  

I'm hoping I can get a chance to go to my local Michael's and see if they carry trim.  It's not something I ever shopped for there in the past so I don't know what they might have or if they even carry that kind of item.  

7.  Stitch the second "Hexie Snowflake" block to its background.

  I did start working on it but so far only have the center flower circle and three of those inner mushroom shaped areas on the left stitched down.  It will continue to be my nightly "news show" stitching for the rest of the week.

8.  Try to squeeze in some work on the "Charming Sweatshirt" I got started while away.  

Nope, didn't get to this and I don't think I will this week either.  This is going to be a project in "time out" for a while until I can get some of the other things done.

9.  Work on two other projects I cut out while away. 

The first of those projects were the Bowl Cozies I had die cut.  They are all now finished and the details will also be in this week's FONF report.

The second is the "Sparkle and Shine Log Cabin project I had rotary cut the parts for.  

This was the other leader/ender I used as I worked on the "Alaska" block and "Freedom Stars" QOV top.   This is a really big block once it's done!  

Even though it was simple sewing (just straight seams), with all the rounds to be stitched I was only  able to get one block completed.  However, this too will go into the rotation for the "30 minutes a day" sewing.  With only nine of them to make,  I figure I can get them finished by month's end.  

So my plans for this week are to:

1.  Continue quilting "Modern Twist" as this month's UFO Challenge finish.  

2.  Piece another "Alaska" BOM block.  

3.  Finish piecing the center of  the "Freedom Stars" QOV top and possibly add the borders to complete it as well.

4.  If  the "Freedom Stars" top has been finished, re-start the layout of the "Picture That" QOV top with the new fabrics for it that I picked up in NC.

5.  Do the finishing work on the completed "Year of the Horse" cross stitch.  

6.  Finish stitching the second "Hexie Snowflake" block to its background.  

7.  Continue making blocks for the "Sparkle & Shine" Log Cabin project as leader/ender piecing.

I look forward to seeing what quilting projects everyone is celebrating in our special month when they link up for "To Do Tuesday" this week at Carol's "Quilt Schmilt".  Happy Quilting!