Thank you Tiffany, I agree the third one is the most striking, that's the one I am going to aim for :) I ended up washing my fabric using the suggestion of the pillow case, it is drying right now. I will just fold it up and iron the pieces as I cut them off, otherwise I think I would drive myself crazy!! I also use a quarter inch foot and didn't see to have a problem with small pieces. Of course I also chain stitch everything so I never have loose threads at the beginning of my blocks. I keep a pile of 2 inch squares on hand and run those through at the end of each stitch I take, they then sit under my foot till I am ready to sew the next thing. This seems to help prevent fabric from getting sucked in. :)
Cheers!
Rachel