I could be totally wrong, but it sounds like you are making the individual strips to do the bargello pattern. I will try to show what I mean, but I had trouble taking pics.
Does your strip look like this?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]124232[/ATTACH]
Sew the two ends together.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]124233[/ATTACH]
Then separate where they they tell you to.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]124234[/ATTACH]