NewFO and UFO Thursday - February Report

Lets do UFO's first -

My UFO Challenge for this month was to work on my Orca Bay Quilt.  As you may recall from earlier this month, I completed 30 blue string blocks. I had plans to do more last weekend or even last night before midnight but it didn't happen. My goal for the month was to make progress on the quilt and I did... I just never thought to take a picture.

One of my own goals for the year was to finish my "florabunda" quilt based on an antique that Bonnie Hunter encouraged us to all work on starting last year as leader-enders. I finished the top, now called Kangaroo Walkabout, this month and even bought the batting. I still need to piece the back and get it sandwiched.

Now, on to the NewFOs...

My designated project for the month was to work on my broderie perse project. I didn't get far but it is started! I cut the green batik for the sashings. I was too timid to cut into the koi fabric and that's as far as I got. I never took a photo of the cut parts, nor did I remember to grab the EQ file. Can you guess what I'll be working on in March?

This months doll quilt was based on broken dishes or half square triangles. Not having the book to get the pattern from, I doodled in EQ which also let me play with color placement. This is the design I settled on:

The original design had more random color placement and a little heart stitchery in the center block. I've picked out the following fabrics (still deciding on the borders: rightmost fabrics) and planned to make a heart shaped yoyo for the center.

My last new project for the month, started on a whim 4 days before the month ended, was another Bonnie inspired project. You may recall that I came across some half square triangles and a pattern almost simultaneously. I again doodled in EQ to come up with this layout based on Bonnie's original design and my lack of 16 more HST:

The colors are not correct at all since the HST are all batiks...it was just easier to doodle this way. The two purple borders could turn out to be anything and I'll be going to the LQS tomorrow to see what strikes my fancy. As you can see in the following photo, I do have a neutral stripe that would be fun as sashing, border or binding. There is also a chunk of the neutral used in each of the HST blocks available to use. I also have that wild orangey fabric that I got from a sale bin. I originally thought it would work for backing but what about outer border? I don't think there is enough for both places. Tell me what you think before I go to the store tomorrow. Please don't make me make my own decision!!

NewFOs and UFOs

UFOs first -
I took a little liberty with my UFO list. My original #1 due to be worked on this month was my RollRollCottonBoll Quilt. HOWEVER - I am sew close to getting my Orca Bay done I switched them in my list. I hope to at least get the blue string blocks done this month. Might as well work on it while it's still out :)

NewFO -
By special request, I am starting my Broderie Perse quilt this month. The directions are from an old Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and this is the quilt shown in the article:

I don't know the entire history of BP but I do know that it was often made from expensive chintz where motifs were cut out and assembled into scenes. This quilt consists of squares and sashing. I will cut some motifs out of the extra fabric to machine applique onto the top so that the motifs are extended into the sashing.

The next fuzzy photo is a closeup of how the magazine article showed that technique. Check out the various flowers and cranes.

Unfortunately the article was pretty short and never mentioned yardage amounts. I purchased these fabrics back in Miami where we guesstimated how much to buy so I don't have near enough as I now wish I had. I love this koi fabric altho I am a little concerned that the design is too big for this technique. We shall see! That dark green batik is just yummy. Wish I had more and not just for this project.

Last night I played around in EQ to determine how big a quilt I could make with the fabric I have on hand. I think I changed the squares to be 8" finished and the sashing 2" or 2.5" finished, which allows me a quilt that is 5 x 6 blocks. It won't be bed size but I think it will be close to my favorite couch size. I would have liked the binding to be from the same batik but I would have had to make a much smaller quilt to accomplish that sew I decided to find something else for the binding.