Even though I am not even close to sewing together all the Happy Blocks into quilts, I think I am ready to write up a summary. I have organized all the blocks into stacks so I am going to guestimate how many quilts I will be making.
We will still keep track as I finish them to see how close I come.
The first Happy Quilt was shared on September 22nd. Since then, I have shared 57 completed quilts. I still have 8 in the pipeline that have been started but not finished. That means there are 65 quilts essentially already made.
I received a total of 3765 blocks from 109 people - that is about twice what I normally see during a block drive. Way to go!
I also received a total of 9 quilts or quilt tops like the on-point quilt above. This is always really nice to receive because I can just put them directly in the "to be quilted" or the "completed" pile.
Getting that many blocks was a bit overwhelming at times, but I was determined to work through them. I used my sewing room floor to organize many of the blocks and yardage. The photo above is after making 65 quilts! I have been sewing on my dining room table.
The above stacks of blocks are organized by theme and represent quilts to finish. Right now I think I can finish another 60 themed quilts. After that, I should be able to make another 10 as I-Spy quilts. This means this block drive will have made about 110 quilts.
That is really amazing!
Some other wonderful things about this block drive was I received lots of fabric donations for backings, bindings and the likes. I now have a nice stash and I don't have to worry about having fabric to finish quilts.
I also put a callout for your old thread. Boy, did you guys deliver! I received just about every make of thread - which is nice because I can share with my elves who are sewing up and quilting some of these quilts. I can usually supply them with their preferred thread.
The biggest surprise was how many cones of thread I received. The above photo is just a few cones that came with a story. Sadly, one of you worked for a division that was closing but you made sure all the unused thread was sent my way - it has made a huge difference! Previously, I was using my thread on my longarm. It was a big expense! Now I also have a stash of thread that (so far) have all worked on my machine!
I can't begin to express how much I appreciate all the support I have received.
In 2023, 250 Compassion Quilts were started - with 211 of them getting delivered to one of our recipients. I am looking forward to growing in many ways in 2024. I will be sharing more about that later.
If you want to help out on the current block drive, it is a variation of a log cabin block. I admit I "tapped the brakes" so to speak by choosing a more involved block. I certainly don't expect to receive 4K blocks this time - but you guys do continue to surprise me.
I am hoping to share the first quilt of the new block this Friday so stay tuned!
(We are still experiencing Icemageddon here so I make no promises.)
