2012 NEWFO Challenge

I was finally catching up on some of my favorite blogs and I found a cool link over at http://pattilousquilts.blogspot.com/.  Pat and I both sew quite a few quilts for donation , including some for the Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild that supports Wrap-a-Smile and Wrap-Them-in-Love (see the Sunshine button on my sidebar).  I must admit that Pat is way more creative than I am – her wonky baskets,  string quilts and liberated houses are just fabulous … to say nothing of her “designed” quilts – enuf said!  Oh, and be careful when you scroll down in her recent post … the picture of the Snickerdoodle cookies will make you drool on your keyboard!

Well, Pat found a website that is sponsoring a Mr. Linky each month of 2012 for Show and Tell – and get this – it’s not UFOs (UnFinished Objects) but NewFOs!  Now that’s an idea that I can get my head around.  I really like variety and trying new blocks and cute designs, but I get tired of forcing myself to complete old UFOs continuously.

I tried last year and successfully completed 11 of 12 UFOs, but I also found myself creating more UFOs.  Pat provided the link to Cat Patches that is sponsoring the Link Parties:  http://catpatches.blogspot.com/2011/12/whats-on-your-2012-newfo-to-do-list.html

The concept is for each of us to think a little about what we’d like to make in 2012:

• Is there a technique you’d like to try?
• Is there a special color combo you’ve been meaning to work with?
• Have you wanted to start AND finish a quilt each month?
• Do you plan on making next year’s Christmas presents; and to start early?

So I’m making up my To-Do list now.  Like Barbara at Cat Patches suggests, I’m staying flexible (not posting all twelve ideas at once), but I really do want to get a Lil’ Twister done with these fabrics:

And I received a Layer Cake from Connecting Threads with lights and darks of a rainbow of colors that I think would look good in the Alaska Homestead Block from Marcia Hohn’s Quilters Cache:

So those are my modest January plans.  I will get to a few UFOs in 2012, but I’m