Here’s a different version of the same block as I did last week on a similar top I showed. There is a little difference - and there is a back story about that.

Let me explain.

I made the first Around the World block 11x13 - 11 squares across and 13 squares down. I put the first block on the floor in the living room and admired it. I then picked out more strips which were also on the main floor and went upstairs to work on them. When I put the next two finished blocks down next to the one I had done, well, they were 11x15 squares - so a 22”x30” block and NOT an 11x13 layout which would be 22”x26”. I groaned. “Oh no, now I have to take this whole block apart and fix it to make it work with the others - and that will be pretty involved,” I told my husband who was downstairs when I noticed the problem.

It was either fix one or fix the two I had just done. And that would be a lot of work as well.

My OTHER option was to just use the two in a one quilt top and save the smaller one for a different top. I’m not really into taking blocks apart unless I really have to. And I was willing to make yet another top similar but different. Note - all of these are from my 2.5” strips!

So that’s what I did.

So after I finished the previous one which is made up of 12 blocks - in a 4x3 layout - here - shown to the right -

I went back to the bags and made 16 more SMALLER blocks.

I left them on the floor for at least two days once I finished all the blocks. I didn’t know exactly how to finish this quilt top so it would be different from the last one.

I didn’t want to do it exactly the same.

When I made these blocks, as opposed to the other one I made - I really was all over the place color-wise.

The other one I was using mostly bold pastels or not even pastels. However, mostly I stayed away from red and black in that one. In this one I did not. I welcomed it, in fact. With both of these, I stayed away from the brown undertones or at least I tried to.

So here it is.

So you can see that I did use a lot of red - and I also made two blue/yellow blocks to honor Ukraine. :) I also went with stripes - both straight on and the diagonal ones. It’s wild!

So, once I had the blocks finished, I debated what next. I wanted it to be DIFFERENT from the other one.

So, I resorted to sashing.

Sashing is always a viable option to make a block look different. In this case, maybe the block doesn’t look different, but with the sashing and cornerstones like this, I now have a pretty bright yellow daisy in the middle of the corner effects.

I had debated using white as the sashing but threw that out when I had all the black in several blocks. I also knew that the black would actually divide the blocks better since I had far more white in the blocks. I wanted a distinct look - since the colors are so crazy. “They say” black makes the colors “pop”.

So I leaned into that effect!

In order to make the look I was going for, I did have a pieced sashing - with black in the middle and I added a yellow piece to each end. The biggest decision I had here was how long to make the yellow. Have short stubby ends or a bit longer. I went with the bit longer.

This one did use up quite a few strips. Once again - I pulled ALL of these from my bags of 2.5” strips. Well, the centers I pulled from a couple of boxes of already cut 2.5” squares. I only needed one of each of those.

I tended to go from light to dark to light or started with dark in the center to light and then back. The effects are various. Just look at the difference of the two yellow and blue blocks in here.

So there you are. I did use 12 colors for each of these blocks - I mean - 12 different fabrics. I tried to make the corners not a repeat of one of the colors in the center. The only block I repeated was this bottom blue/yellow block. The light yellow on the outside of the block is also found in the center.

This huge bundle pack is only $33! So pretty!

I could see myself doing this again and again. I’d like to try it with colors like my sis has a bundle pack of - “looks like water”.

Obviously if I use my strips - it won’t be nearly as perfectly colored as I’d have to just go with the “idea” of this and not be a perfectionist about this.

I’m now picking out some 2.5” strips in these colors - and I will probably try this again - but with these colors (plus whatever is in the strip) - maybe add white for the very centers.

I have bags and bags of these 2.5” strips - so I am eager to make quilts that I like out of them.

That’s the key. I want them to appeal to my sense of pretty, or at least ok.

When truly using my scraps, I may not get a gasp of pleasure because of their beauty, but I aim for a “that’s nice” effect. :) LOL

Oh - and I’ve now made quite a few quilts using primarily 2.5” strips. Here is my series so far. I’ve not made it a huge deal - but this is it. I’ve been determined to make quite a few this year. I’ll have to go back and see what my specific goal was!