Calendar Quilt Challenge Update

This isn't a great picture, but here's my "block" for January for the Calendar Quilt Challenge. I hesitate to admit this, but I don't like it. I can't imagine that I'm going to like the finished quilt either. I haven't sewn anything for February, even though it's now March 1st. I'm considering making a much narrower strip (like 3 inches wide) for the remaining months and then making more of a Chinese coins quilt. I'd probably do it something like this one that I made for my cousin, with lots of blank space around the 12 strips.




What do you all think?

I'm not loving it, and I'm not sure I want to spend the time on it when I could do something I'd love more, but I hate to give up on something.

Quilt planning

Last week, I had the chance to use a 10% off coupon at my local fabric store and one of the things I got was a little set of fabrics for a baby quilt. There are 4 prints and a solid white, for a total of 5 different fabrics. I think I'm going to jump on the whirlygig/pinwheel bandwagon. I'll use the bottom three prints and the white for the blocks and the top print for the sashing- it has a third color in it. That leaves two decisions: how big to do the squares (I don't have the template) and do I want the one with stripes to have the stripes go the long way, the short way, or diagonal?

Any suggestions before I start cutting?

Reproduction Quilt

Several years ago when I first started quilting my grandmother gave me this quilt. It was made by one of her sisters years ago. It has been stored in my closet ever since. I was hoping that when the Bug was born that he'd be born a she and we'd be able to plan his room around it, but that was not to be. I recently pulled it out of storage and put it on the bed in his room because it seems a waste of a quilt not to have it in use. It's very hard to get enjoyment out of something you have stored in the top of a closet. (I would also use my china every day if I had enough room in the kitchen to store it. As is, it's in the basement. One day I'll have a pantry!)

Now that I have it out, I very much want to make my own reproduction quilt. I have my eye on these lovely fabrics. I just need to find a good pattern- I want something that isn't too hard, but is still interesting. Any suggestions?