The Thinking Outside the Block quilt I just finished (see it under Pictures) took about 1 to 1.25 yards per color for a 5 ft by 5 ft quilt without the border and not including the center color (I used a fat quarter for those). The blocks were 6.5" and there were 5 colors per block. The strips were 1.5 inches wide. I did the math to calculate yardage: for example: Color 1 requires 2 strips, 6" and 5" at 1.5" wide. Number of blocks needed is 25, fabric is 44". The math is 6+5 = 11". 44"/11" = 4 of the 11" pieces per the width of the fabric. Since I need 25 blocks, then it is 25/4 - 6.25 which is the number of full 44" strips I need to make 25 of the 11" pieces. If my strips are all 1.5" wide, then 6.25 x 1.5 = 9.73 inches or approx. 1/4 yard. You could easily set up a formula in MS Excel to calculate this.