Forgot to add:
When making another JR quilt, in addition to cutting 28" off the first strip - I also cut about 3 other of the strips in half sporatically as I assembled the strips. That helped, too.
Another neat idea when making one of these is to pick a coordinating color to match your strips (I picked a burnt orange for mine) and at the end of every strip sew a short strip (mine were 2 1/2" so it would be square in the finished quilt) and it adds a new personality to your JR quilt. I'll try to find a picture but can't promise - I gave that quilt away.
But bottom line - unless you use all different strips, no repeats, it's bound to happen.
Forgot to say, I really like the way yours turned out.