So, I joined the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, and one of the members proposed a challenge block - that was "freeform". He gave us a small square of fabric with a sock monkey on it for a focus block, and a strip of white to go around it. After that, there were no restrictions, other than it must end up at 12.5" at the end.
I was so scared! having only done the sort of quilting that involves a pattern and VERY precise cutting and sewing, this sort of terrified me.
But I did some websearching, found a great tutorial for wonky blocks on Quilt Dad, and just dove in.
Wow, is it ever liberating! I might love this a lot.
Here's how it came out. I'm pretty pleased with the result and also that I was able to use up some scraps.