Several readers have asked for a little more info on how I make my units for my latest quilt. A few have hinted that they would like to try this. Go for it! The picture below shows the units before they are cut into final shape. I use any size strips that are in my scrap bins. The narrowest should be at least an inch wide, preferably just a little wider because it will get trimmed slightly. I use anything up to 3" wide.

I have already trimmed 2 sides and now I am lining up to trim the other 2 sides. My "rule" that I made for myself is that they can be any inch measurement plus1/2"'. I have used everything from 2.5" to 7.5" in my previous quilt. You can see that if I allowed myself to use even inch measurements I wouldn't have to trim away so much on this one.

On this one I have just laid the ruler on the block to see the largest I can cut it. Then I decide how much gets trimmed off of which edges. I may want the center square to be off center so I decide which fabrics I like the most and where I will trim the least. Since this one will be 3.5" x 4.5" I can use it either in the 3.5" row of units of in the 4.5" row when I do my layout.

I hadn't seen the goldfinches for about 3 weeks. Then yesterday there were a couple of them in my yard again, checking out the finch feeder sack. A few minutes later this little guy flew up to my window sill and started pecking at the window. He wouldn't sit still for very long so 4 of the pictures were blurry.