The start of the new month means time to set a quilting goal for March. I am enjoying participating in Sew Bittersweet Designs link up, A Year of Lovely Finishes.  It encourages me to make a plan and have one overall goal to work toward. Something about writing it down helps it to happen.

I am working on a basic patchwork quilt right now. I love the simplicity of a traditional patchwork design. I have been collecting an assortment of neutral fabrics – all shades of cream, taupe and tan, both prints and solids. A few weeks ago I started cutting 3 1/2 inch squares. Luckily my son was home and he cut tons of them for me. I decided to go with 25 rows of 20 squares across so I needed 500 pieces. Ian was a champ – cutting 500 pieces would be major neck pain for me. Yay for having kids – see how it pays off.  (Just kidding Ian – love you!)

In addition to the neutrals, I added a small number of squares that have some red in the print as well as a few red solid squares. I love the neutrals but the addition of the red adds a nice contrast.

As I was piecing squares I started liking the red even more. The evolution of a project, right? I started sketching ideas and decided to piece a heart and include it on the lower half of the quilt. This is turning out quite different than my original plan but that’s ok. I am loving it.

I am usually one to follow patterns and directions. For a long while, I have envied people who can just play with fabric and be ok with that. This quilt is one of the first that I have made without a pattern or a strictly defined plan. Makes for a fun project because I have enjoyed the process of letting things evolve. It has also been a great use of stash I have on hand. I bought the red for the heart but had the rest.

The goal is to have this project finished by the end of March. Piecing the top is almost 1/2 way done so a March finish is more than reasonable. Hoping March brings some decent weather to my northeastern friends!

Linking to ALYOF, Freemotion by the River and Let’s Bee Social.