February UFO - Racing the Calendar

I'm working hard to finish this one by midnight on Friday night.  I love a challenge!

Disappearing 9 patch

The quilting is almost to the bottom border.  Whew!  Except ... there is no quilting yet in the light pink rectangles.

Here's the back side.  The quilting is much easier to see.

Plan A : Use the cherry blossoms as quilting inspiration and make oversized blossoms in the navy fabrics.  The green inner borders have a bamboo design.  Add ginko leaves to the dark pink (Gees Bend dyed fabrics) small squares.  Using a template, add clamshells to the light pink fairy frost fabric.

It's easier to do all the free motion, then change the hopping foot to a template foot once and execute the clamshells.  But I did try a couple of clamshell areas near the top of the quilt, so I've already changed the foot a couple of times.  It just doesn't work on this quilt.  My template makes too large a design and the tops of the second row end up being cut off by the edge of the patchwork.  Not very pretty!

Plan B : Skip the light pinks until all else is done and make a new plan.  Since the focus fabric is an Asian print, I'm looking for another design which will fit that theme.  Free motion is much easier for me than templates.  And .... since this finish is for a monthly UFO challenge, I'd like to get 'er done soon.

I'm open to any ideas for this quilting.  Before deciding on clamshells, I thought about a tall crane, but his wings wouldn't be spread and I thought it wouldn't look regal enough.  I love the look of sashiko and I'm willing to lightly mark a grid to accomplish that look.

I've got to dash off to work now and then I'll check back here to see if anyone has an idea for this pink.  The quilting thread is Isacord Petal Pink.  It blends very well with the light pink, so this area will be all about texture, not contrast.

Enjoy your day!
- SeeingStars