Wrapping up March!

March can be a tough month here in Northeast Ohio -- the ice is gone from Lake Erie but it's still a rough place to earn a living -- this red-breasted merganser doesn't seem to mind the cold water and the wind but the rest of us are all staying in the sheltered spots -- outdoors and indoors.

But the bluebell foliage is popping up

and Harbinger of Spring is in full bloom so soon our focus will shift to all those things we can't do in the winter!!  Thank goodness!!

Thanks for the encouragement shared after my last (fretful) post about my back.  I'm just home from my monthly maintenance appointment with my physical therapist and she answered a bunch of questions for me and calmed me down a great deal.  We decided on a couple new things I can try and she assured me that I'm doing well under the circumstances -- we've worked together for four years and the strategy has helped during that time.  So I'm feeling much more confident.

So "fretting" is a hassle but seems to be a necessary part of my problem solving style.  I don't just sit and fret though -- I stitch and fret or I walk and fret so maybe that makes me a productive fretter?

Both of those activities are "default" modes that calm me down and I hope everyone knows what their best default activities are!!

In spite of the fretting, I scored some quilt finishes and got back on track with a knitting project.  These socks have been buried in the basket next to my cozy chair for over 2 months -- I "frogged" one and a half socks and just started again -- the hardest part of a failing knit project is working up the courage to "frog" -- once that is done, it's easy to get back on track.  Boy, is it hard to unknit all that work!!

I finished up two small quilts out of my WIP piles from the past.

This sweetie is Vanity Flair by Karen Ackva at www.easypatchwork.de and I used a "layer cake" for the design.  There are even leftovers squares from the layer cake!

I got hung up on the quilting but eventually broke through the wall and bound it last week!

This scrappy pinwheel was a teaching sample using an assortment of batiks from my Marti Michell tool teaching days.  I even have a recipient in mind which spurred me on so this quilt won't be languishing on the guest bed!!

And look at the backing fabric -- love it!!  So glad I impulsively bought the end of the bolt when I saw it -- enough for the quilt back and a half yard for my stash!!

Another teaching sample using Michell templates -- I love piecing this block and it was a popular workshop so I have several blocks to finish.  

This is a table mat and will be the perfect gift one of these days!

The local quilt show at Lake Farmpark in Kirtland, Ohio opens for a month this evening.  I entered my birth year temperature quilt and am headed out there for the opening this evening.  Always fun to see the quilts and the people, many of whom have been students and customers in the past.

My scrappy Forever Friends quilt blocks have all the sashing attached and another hour of stitching will have the blocks set together -- really love this top!!  I'm up to date with this hexie project and still plodding along with the hand-pieced one.  

I even spent 30 minutes yesterday working out a finishing plan for another WIP and tomorrow, April 1, I get to eliminate another project from the UFO/WIP list I made in January -- yipee!!  If I stick with it as well this year as I did last year, I should have such a tiny list to start 2023!?!

Now back to watching the seasons change!

Mary