Christine, I love the progress photos! You go, girl. The stand would be a big help, I liked to use a wood sweater drying rack thing I had for my strips but my son asked for it when he moved out (he actually liked to use it for drying clothes!) and I never replaced it.
This year I plan to work with some civil war fabrics I've collected. Way back around Y2K I did a lot of fabric swapping and although I'm not a huge fan of them, I amassed a lot of 10" squares of civil war fabrics! I think between the squares and suitable yardage (not all truly Civil War, some just Thimbleberries in correct colors or close enough) I have enough for about 3 quilts. I thought I planned out my first one but I've just changed blocks/directions.and need to play with my fabric a bit more before starting and I think I'm going to need a couple more Indigo fabrics than I have, but that's not hard to find something close enough to work. Currently thinking about a Joseph's Coat variation, where the blocks are made from selected fabrics but each block is different. First thought was a Gentleman's Fancy/Rambler variation (lots of triangles) with each piece different per block, even though I work in random a lot I lean more towards the planned variations than the chaotic variation and I think I'll be happier with the new plan. Plus, I'll probably still have enough fabric for the "Fancy Rambler".