HST Pink and orange Potholders and oven Mitts

I have a good friend with impeccable taste, and I don't know anyone who can pull off unlikely color combinations like she does. She mentioned one day that she really likes pinks and oranges, and I decided I would try to execute a HST project using those color combinations.  Would you believe I spent twice as much time obsessing over the color combinations and layout of these potholders than it actually took to make them? I completed two different versions.  ​I really liked how wild the first version was, but I decided to eliminate a few of the brighter shades.

 The second version is still pretty bold yet slightly tamer. I ended up giving one set to my mother-in-law. I can't think of a zanier, more fun personality than her.  The other set, I gifted to my friend who inspired me.
I have really enjoyed making potholders and oven mitts for gifts lately because I love making practical gifts.  I wasn't sure whether I should hand-quilt them because it limits the utility, but I couldn't help myself. I ended up machine quilting the usable sides of the mitt and potholder and hand quilting just the outer piece.  I liked this balance! I don't do a lot of machine quilting, so it was great to polish my walking foot and machine quilting methods.  I also got some good practice with extra thick layers since there are two layers of cotton batting in addition to the insulbrite layers.
Overall, I really enjoyed playing with the HST layouts and finding different ways to offset shadings and create visual lines.