So Many Strips

When I get to the end of a piece of fabric I try to cut it to usable sizes. I cut my binding at 2.5" and use a double-fold binding so I often cut my scraps to 2.5" wide and save them away for a rainy day. I've been meaning to use some of these to make something for a while. Instead of spending more money on more fabric, I decided it was time to pull out these strips and make some blocks. I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Hourglass Leader Ender challenge from 2016 for the design of these blocks. Her design is still in the free patterns section of her blog.

I had some wide backing fabric leftover from more than a couple quilts (that teal fabric that makes the square) so I used it to make some blocks. I am really pleased with how to use of a single color for the center of each strip set gives the blocks a cohesive look.

Unfortunately, I was a little too scrappy with my selections. I love the blocks, but they don't tell a cohesive story. Some of these will end up in the 12.5" block bin to become part of an orphan block quilt. (We'll look in that bin sometime in January to see what's left over from 2017.)

I sorted all those strips into color families. The green stack was the tallest, so I decided to use it along with some of the browns and yellows to tell a cohesive color story. There will still be plenty of scrappiness in this quilt.

I may write detailed block tutorial at some point, but for now I'll just list the tools I use to make the cuts. These blocks are trimmed to 12.5" by 12.5" after assembly. The Tucker Trimmer III is a great tool for squaring up these large blocks.

I'll keep adding to these as I have time. Such a fun project.

Cutting tools:
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
EZ Quilting Easy Angle 6.5-inch
The Strip Tube Ruler
Tucker Trimmer III