Giraffe Pillow and PhD success!

This is my third year attempting to earn my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Gail of Quilting Gail.  Gail started the program to reduce her overall number of UFOs.  I started with 14 UFOs on my list and a conundrum.  See, I don't count something as a UFO unless I've actually cut into it or otherwise done something to start--pulling the fabric and planning the fabric doesn't count yet.  So I have far more than 14 because I have lots of planned projects with fabric I already own, I just haven't started them yet.  Since my overall goal is to finish projects with supplies I already have, I stated at the beginning of the year that I could count up to 4 projects not on my UFO list but that I had the supplies for.

 

One of the projects on my UFO list was "Extra for Miren."  Miren is the daughter of one of my college friends.  She got a baby brother in 2019.  I made his baby quilt but I like to send a big sibling present with the baby quilt.  Thing is, I didn't actually start anything, so I'm not sure why I put this on the list.  Perhaps because I can't mail the baby quilt until I make something for Miren, so in essence that quilt is unfinished?  I would worry about counting it, but I had one UFO turn into two finished quilts, so between the two I finished 13; I'll assume that two mild dubious finishes equal one solid finish and call myself successful!

Miren's dad (my friend) told me her favorite animal is the giraffe.  I made a single giraffe block from the book More Peeled-Back Patchwork: Dimensional Curves for Animal Quilts by Annette Ornelas of Southwind Designs.  The pattern is for a whole quilt and does include a body but that wouldn't work for a pillow. It's a little odd to have a disembodies giraffe head but I like the head itself.  I've admired Annette's patterns for a while and I purchased one last summer, but this is my first time using her peeled back technique.  I loved and will make more of her patterns in the future, I am sure!  I used Island Batik's solid Lime Green for the envelope back.

cushion back

I now have 7 left on my UFO list.  (If you are doing the math, I found two additional UFOs not on the original list.)  One of Gail's rules is that you must finish projects started in the current year, with a few acceptations.  So I will have a fairly small list for my PhD in 2021 leaving me lots of room to make more projects where I have all the components but haven't actually started them yet.

If you are interested in playing along for your PhD in 2021, you can find all the information here.  I'll be back to attempt my 4th PhD!