The rusty red looks very good with it on my screen, and it certainly seems to me that it goes with the paisley, but if you are making it to use in your house, probably it just isn't going to be worth your time to do it in a way that you know your hubby won't enjoy. The yellow doesn't do a thing for me. How about a nice, dark brown? Maybe the simplest solution would be to just sew the blocks together and make something smaller, such as a couple of pillow tops. They are attractive, and you put a lot of time and care into them. It's good that you're getting around to doing something with them.