More Block 12-ishes and a UFO

More blocks, variations on 'palooza block 12, for my planned 9-block top. This pair features back-to-back corner geese units:

I love the blue-yellow combo in these. The resulting star and large diamond really pop.

And for this last pair I placed the "geese" facing out:

The very dark accent fabric is actually a lovely small-print tonal brown.

I've had so much fun making these, and look forward to putting them all together into a top. I have ambitious visions (still somewhat vague) for sashing and bordering these. I will play with ideas as I finish up some other projects on more urgent timeframes. These blocks are about to go into a "works theoretically still in progress but temporarily on the back burner" bin while I quilt the monochrome forest, finish up the OBW borders, and maybe even get this little cutie quilted up:

This is a not-very-large "confetti" wall-hanging I made early last summer to play around with the method and my tiny scraps drawer. I liked it enough to add a border. The border and light blue background both are leftovers from making curtains for our bedroom, so I'm planning to hang it in there. I set it aside at this stage because I did not yet have the extension-table thingie that makes machine quilting so much easier. This morning I sandwiched it up with a backing fabric and got it pinned and ready to go. Best part is it's small enough I was able to do that on the kitchen counter instead of crawling around on the floor. I won't get to this immediately (the monochrome project is a higher priority), but do hope to get it quilted very soon.

Block 14... not feelin' it

Sorry dude, but Block 14 is not inspiring me. It's not a bad block. I can see a few things I'd change to do it my way, and it might be fun to play around with on its own. But in my 'palooza context (which at this point is fairly far off the main track) it's so obviously destined to sit on the sidelines of the design wall that I've decided not to bother with it. (Besides, if you're going to contribute a block to something as public as this quilt-along, lighten up about claiming copyright and just let people have fun with it!)

In the meantime I've been making more of my versions of what was originally Block 12, which of course I did not render exactly as per the instructions, so it's not really "Block 12" anymore. I liked the way my first two turned out so much I decided to expand on the theme and make a separate 9-block top from them. I've been puttering along on this all week, cutting a few new fabrics here, sewing up a few goose units there, shuffled some bits from block to block, and at last have a WIP I'm happy with. Here are a few of the new ones (more to come in another post, later).

This is a sister-block to the first one I made:

I used different fabrics for the on-point squares, the 4-patch, and half the geese, and the purple solid is a slightly different shade, but overall I kept it a fairly close match... but diferent enough to be interesting.

Same approach with this one, which is a fraternal (but not identical) twin to the second one, also here:

This one's a singleton, planned for the center of what will be nine in a grid layout:

For this one I placed the "geese" nose-to-nose, instead of in flight formation or back-to-back.

There are two more pairs to show off, as soon as the stragglers are ready for a public appearance, and I've rephotographed one. My camera is overly fond of yellow, apparently, and reluctant to properly portray blues. Indoors, outdoors, flash, no flash: the blues hardly ever come out looking like they should, even when all the other colors are right.


Block-a-Palooza Block 12, mostly

I made Block 12 twice, because it's nice. As usual, I did not exactly follow the original design (sorry, Jennifer, don't take it personally, it's just how I am.)

For this one, instead of using two geese back-to-back in the center position of each side, I cut large squares from a bold Kaffe Fassett print and set them on point. I also rotated the corner geese squares so they are flying in from the edges. That lovely tonal red/orange print, BTW, is from a piece that has been in my stash since before I moved to Hawaii (in 1999). I am very, very choosy about where I use it (it began as a half-yard, and there is so little left!), and it is just right here.

I had a little bit of a bright green print loitering on the sewing table, left over from piecing a back for the monochrome project. It wanted to romp with Kaffe's "henna" in "duck egg", which has been in the "potential future block use" pile for some time:

I made on-point squares again, and paired them with teal/red/orange. This time I used the back-to-back geese idea from the original layout, and put them in the corners. The four-patch center is from the pile of extra 2.5" bits in the 'palooza fabric bin.

Although I couldn't resist cutting large squares to feature a couple of the many lovely fabrics that want a chance to shine in this project, I also really like the paired goose squares in close tones/values. This block is going to stay up on my design wall for a bit, as I think about what else I might make with back-to-back geese like this.

Today it's back to OBW borders (just as soon as I get enough desk stuff done to earn sewing time). I am very eager to get that top done so I can start quilting. Not that I've figured out how to quilt it yet. I'm weighing options. The monochrome top and back are ready to go, but I have no batting on hand (that stash went into the lap quilts project), so it's on hold until I get to my local quilt shop for supplies.