When I get on the home stretch of a project, I am guilty of starting to think about the next project that I want to start.

In this case, I’ve been thinking about all those charity quilts.

First, let me say this…

I appreciate all of you who have helped me with this charity quilting project. For those of you who are unaware, my goal is to finish 120 charity quilts this year (and the next two years minimum).

That doesn’t meant that I’ve made all those tops - all by myself. No. Not at all.

I’ve had help.

I just recently finished sandwiching all the rest of the needed charity quilt tops for this year so now I’m free to actually evaluate what I have left.

Here are some pictures so you can see!

• I have 50 tops - singles - ready to go - these are ones that mostly I made - though there are probably 5 from other people, besides my friend, Fran, a lady who lives in Arizona, who has helped with the Around the World designs to which I added borders to make into a single size top.

• 34 large/doubles

  I am going to incorporate 2 or 3 into each month starting in 2020. I was behind this year so I opted to save them, I made one of these - Fran made the rest, though I did add borders to make them a tiny bit bigger.

• 16 large tops that I’ve recently received from Fran that I’ve not added borders to yet. It’s not a difficult thing to do - just need to do it. I’ve got to get off the couch…(LOL I’m kidding!)

• 15 small centers of tops that I need to add borders to - they act like a panel. these all came from Fran in Arizona, USA.

• Then I have 48 either “ready to go” from you all or what I call “starters” - things I will add to to make at least a single.

  Obviously if they are already at least 55x80”, I won’t do anything - but just sandwich and quilt them. But if smaller than that, I will find some fabrics in my stash and add a border or two to make it a bed size quilt. I appreciate everything!

Did you add all those up? Hmm.

• Then if I feel like it, I can always add borders to this box/bag of panels that I have which make perfect charity quilts. People absolutely love them!

I am extremely grateful for all of these tops! It really helps ME be able to finish a lot of things - both charity quilts PLUS the new designs I come up with for other quilts.

I’m going to be working in the room where all the tops have been and straightening and organizing more. I guess I just feel relief that I can do that now.

I need to get back into cutting up scraps into strips. I’ll try to do that again in 2020. It was kind of fun when I did it in 2017, I think it was. I cut each month - and then weighed my totals as to how much I had cut up into usable strips. It also makes it really fast when I want to make a 2” strips quilt to have them all ready! I have plenty of scraps to make into strips - that is for sure!

Now I will continue to prepare some backings for the next year’s quilts. If the backings are ready to go, it saves a lot of time! A lot!

I’ll need 3 big backings for each month for 2020 since I will make myself finish up three doubles a month. The small ones are so much quicker and easier so it is easy for me to just keep putting off finishing the large ones!

So…there you go…pressing forward.

I sandwiched 15 quilts today - FIFTTEEN. I knew I would do that - as I got to the end of the 120, I would feel like I was getting closer and not want to stop until I was finished!

I’m feeling like doing nothing right now. Just taking a break.

From now on I will try to spend an extra 4 hours a week quilting on these charity quilts just to help myself finish them up sooner. I’ll use the Dave Ramsey “debt snowball method” - By applying the extra time to the quilting, I should be able to finish them all before the middle of December. Of course, that is all dependent on the Lord continuing to give me strength and health.

I’ve been itching to get back into that room and clean it up - because the room where my main stash is has degenerated into a kind of free-for-all on the surface. All the shelves are looking great - just the floor area looks like a whirlwind went through. Of course that adds to my feelings of stress. Big time.

Unlike my weekly charity report update, this is an overall look at the tops I have ready to go, or almost ready to go. (I am also attempting to make one a week from the Big Fabric Haul which equals 52 a year.)

But reading this…now I feel tired! However, that’s not what i’m trying to portray. What I wanted to express is that I’ve been on the verge of drowning…but now I’m starting to feel back in control again - like I can break through the surface of the water and swim again!

Thank you so much for everyone’s kind words, encouragement, and last, but certainly NOT least, the charity tops you’ve given me to share with local people!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!