Some months ago, I took a pile of thrifted scraps, some newer prints and solids, and started cutting the whole of them into strips, freehand, with my rotary cutter. And then I took to joining them mostly randomly, making interesting clashes of patterns against pattern, and throwing at least one solid in with every group of 4-5 strips.

I started by making what my friend Sherri calls "strip sheets". And then started working through the permutations, letting one idea flow into the next idea organically.

I first started by making opposing stripe blocks (where you lay one set of stripes one way, and another set the other, and sew around the perimeter, and then cut the block into quarters on the diagonal. This is the block quilt you see at the top of this post...it's riotous and fun. Each time I opened up a block after sewing and cutting, I would gasp with delight at what would result with each random pairing. The quilt is crazy, but has an underlying structure that gives it a cohesiveness.

I also sub-cut the strip sheets into smaller strips, and have joined these smaller strips with varying shades of grey. This idea came to me in a dream; the grey is a fantastic counterpoint to the riot of colors.

Submitting the strip sheets into smaller strips got me curious about what would happen if I sub-cut the sheets into Dresden Plate wedges...the result is pretty fun! I need to consider what I'll appliqué them to, and what fabrics or fabrics I will appliqué to the centers of the blocks.

The last few show what happens when I cut the strip sheets into blocks, and cut them in half to make HSTs. I threw a log cabin block I had made for other purposes in the center, and I REALLY like the result. The blocks of this one might just have to be set on point; the diagonals are really dynamic.

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I have a lot of strips left...and many more ideas. Looks like I have a series on my hands.