April catch up

I feel like I spend most of my time playing catch up. And I never seem to actually catch up. Do you? As usual with the beginning of a new year, I made plans to work on that UFO list that never ends. Following the tips from Pat Sloan I actually donated fabric, broke up fabric I put together to make specific quilts, and (gasp) tossed a couple of tops that I just did not want to spend anymore time on. I also attempted to be more realistic with my planning. Projects never go as fast as I think they will. (shocking right?) Of course getting a pile of quilts back from the shop (unquilted) did not help.

Last year I taught a class on string quilts. I showed them the basics and my sample was just the strings put together (cause I was making lots of samples). I got my strings back and I bought some border fabrics to get it finished. I finally pulled it out of the closet and got the top finished. I thought I liked the colors I picked for the borders, but I am not really sure. BUT it stays and I will it finished.
Here is the strings quilt top:

My youngest daughter, saw a quilt she loved in the book "City Quilts". I picked out the fabric a while ago and put them neatly in a bin. :)  Once they were suitable aged I pulled them out to start that quilt.
the first little pieces ready to start putting together looked like this

Some of the little pieces became bigger units

and then even bigger units. I had the last 12 rows together and was clipping threads when I clipped a hole in the sashing. So I had to unpick and unpick some more. I cut out the hole and pieced it back together.

The quilt still needs a small gray border but I need to get more gray from the shop.

Poor quilts look so lumpy on the bed, guess I shouldn't pile them on top of each other to get pictures.

I feel like I am getting some things done, but the pace is way slower than I would like.
Happy stitching.