First Friday UFO - February

Happy First Friday of February! That means that it is time for another "First Friday UFO" post. If you recall, I started doing these posts back in August. I was contemplating doing an "Almost Free BOM" at a local quilt shop when I realized that I've got PLENTY of UFOs sitting in the armoire, so I could do my own little Block of the Month program. Each month, I make one block for my UFO and show it on the first Friday of the next month. Right now I'm working on my All Star quilt.

Here's the block I made in January. Does that center look familiar? When I was making my New Year's Day QOV from Judy's pattern, I had an extra 6 1/2 " piece of a red-cream-red subset. Since these stars finish at 12 inches, that piece was perfect for the center of this star. I also thought it was cool to put a bit of my first QOV into this All Star quilt. I will be keeping this quilt for my family room.

Here's a closeup of the blue fireworks fabric that makes up the star points. You probably can't see it real well in the photo, but there are silver streaks in the fireworks.

With this block, I've made 12 blocks for this quilt, and 12 was my goal. I made this little collage in Photoshop to show you all 12 together. Believe it or not, every block has the same cream background fabric! Depending on the lighting when I took each of the photos, it looks different in different blocks. I don't think this is how I will eventually set the quilt; I just made the collage to show all 12 blocks together.

I just have one problem. "One of these things is not like the others." Raise your hand if you remember that song from "Sesame Street"!

The block up in the top right corner doesn't work for me. For one thing, it's only two fabrics (the cream background and the blue print), while all the other blocks have at least three fabrics (the cream background, one or more red, and one or more blue). Also, this block is not a sawtooth base and it has the blue fabric in the four corners. I really like the block on its own; I made it in a class at a quilt shop. But I don't like it in this quilt.

My plan is to make this one block into a throw pillow and I'll make one more block this month so I have 12 for the quilt. This month as I work on that last block, I'm also going to be thinking about how I want to set the quilt.

Happy Stitching!