I use doodle pads from the dollar store. It's very easy to pull out when you finish your block. Phone books not so much. I take my short ends of fabric strips and sew them together to make longer strips, and they are many shapes. Whenever I am cutting strips when I even the ends, those go into the scrap bin. Bonnie Hunter has a new book out on scrappy strip blocks. She incorporates them in her regular quilt blocks and they are gorgeous. She does blocks and then cuts them down. One of her quilts is Jamestown Landing and the strip blocks were done in all neutrals. It added so much to the quilt, I love it.