No I don't use a foundation for anything I do. I just sew pieces together. I used a foundation when I first started trying a crazy quilt years and years ago but you don't need one.
We just cut strips and sew them together. My friend Dorothy does most of this sort of work for me. She cuts strips by the gallon and then sets them in piles of med light and dark. That is because I like to make sure the colors are varied and not get 3 darks in a row or all lights that will blend too much.
Then she goes through and sews sets of 2 til she has them all sewn. Then she trims the inside one on all sets. Then she sews 2 sets together. Then she keeps repeating the trimming and the joining sets together til she gets to the size I requested.
The size of my sets is based on the fact that I used them primarily for borders on my hotpads that I sold. so I had her do sets that were 10" wide for the long sides of the hotpad and some that were 8" wide for the short sides of the hotpad.
I like to use strips that are about 10" long just because that is a nice easy length to handle for me.
You can make your length and width anything you like. It all depends on how you are going to use it.
When I do the smaller miniatures I use a length of about 4 or 5" as it is easier to work with if I am going to trim to a 1/2" unfinished strip from the seam. This would be for a coin purse or bookmark etc. Tho I also do use the longer ones if they are already made up. The issue is when you cut out and you have long strips to move as you turn the mini cutting board it can be annoying. Just a personal preferance.
I also use this method to make 9 patch blocks and Trip Around the World.
Thanks everyone! I hope you get some good ideas from this!
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