The problem was that I couldn’t remember what they were for. A mystery quilt seemed to ring a bell, so after poking around the web, I decided maybe they’d been intended for a Bonnie Hunter mystery, probably the first one, called Orange Crush. I’m not sure why I would have completed Step 2, when it seems I didn’t complete any of the other steps. I guess that’s part of the mystery.

So I looked through Bonnie’s steps and decided on a color scheme of sorts and started sewing. I made these:

And I made these:

I wanted to incorporate these yummy poison greens:

The blocks started coming together. There are two sets of blocks. One set looks like this on point:

Up to now, I’ve been happy. I love the way the indigo blues play with the poison greens, and I love the accent of bubblegum pink.

The other set of blocks looks like this on point:

I don’t like these quite as much, but I have high hopes for putting them all together. Except that when I put them together, I didn’t like the effect at all!

So what would happen if I set the blue/green blocks straight?

Or what would happen if I set the yellow blocks straight?

At this point I’m letting it all percolate. I’m not sure they’re exciting enough when separated, but I don’t like them all together either. So in a fit of creative rebellion, I put them all aside and made these funky doodads.

They’re cut freehand and they’re weird but I think they have potential. Or maybe they’ll become part of a guild program called “Miserable Failures.” I’ll keep you posted on both fronts. If you have suggestions for any of these projects, I’d love to hear them.

You need big squares cut 9.5″ x 9.5″

You need small squares cut 3.5″ x 3.5″

You need rectangles cut 3.5″ x 9.5″

Join them as shown below.

I created a “fake” border by making all the perimeter patches dark. I like this effect a lot and will do it again sometime.

I only auditioned one border fabric, because it was so funky and unpredictable that I just had to use it.  It’s a FreeSpirit from about five years ago, designed for a line by Terrie Hancock Mangat called Fiesta. The print is called Pie Party. Isn’t that fun?

The people in the border are just wonderful!

So are the dogs!

I didn’t want to lose the craziness of the scene, so I cut the borders 11″ wide. I like this! Even though I had several yards of the fabric (off a clearance table), I had to piece the top and bottom border strips; I also needed to add corner posts.

In some ways I think this is hideous. But I also love it because it is so weird. Have you made a hideous/funky quilt? We’d love to see it.

Now to think up some off-the-wall quilting designs and calm down the edges with a simple binding fabric. I’ll keep you posted.

I finished a little 12″ x 15″ wall quilt this week. It will be gifted to my cousin’s daughter in Nebraska for graduation. It’s called “Happy.”

I painted the fabric with Jacquard paints, then stamped over the paint, did some simple thread painting and beaded a bit. I referred back to Quiltmaker’s May/June ‘08 issue for simple beading instructions. I also love C&T’s All-in-One Beading Buddy, which by the way is greatly on sale.

It feels great to move some projects into the finished pile. I am loving it!