finished this quilt top at the beginning of december! woohoo! truth be told, this quilt has been about 1-2 years in the making.

i learned how to english paper piece a few years ago, maybe the beginning of 2014?...with the help of my CMQG friend holly, and katy jones on her QNN show quilt monkey (episode link). i spent many a night on my couch (or parent's couch, when i was there visiting), or at stitch, bitch and brew, over the last few years, diligently hand sewing each hexie diamond you see here.

my idea from the outset was to join random hexies together, not overthinking the pairings, combining what some might deem as "mismatched" or "ugly" fabrics, and see what the results might be. i grabbed a bunch of disparate fabrics from my scrap bins and cut out 6 inch squares with the help of my trusty GO! cutter, and then machine appliquéd each diamond, set on a diagonal, on to the 6 inch squares with a rainbow of threads, including some neon threads.

and then i joined all the blocks, at least taking care to at least not let any two similar 6 inch squares touch.

that's it, really.

i'm REALLY pleased with how it turned out. controlled crazy! i'm all about the controlled crazy. about setting some limits or parameters but not overthinking everything to death. it's very liberating. try it!

my plan for quilting this beast has not been finalized, but i'm thinking i'll probably echo quilt the seams, maybe in neon thread (because i like me some neon, dammit), and then hand tie each diamond in the center with wool yarn, and face the quilt (rather than bind it, because i'm all about that right now too). and then wash the quilt so i can get felted doodleballs! because why not, and how fun would that be?! DOODLEBALLS, y'all. (h/t to sherri lynn)

stay tuned, i'll update when it's finally finished!