no i didn't paper piece it. the strips are 1.5 inches and you just keep adding them on. i followed the instructions in the fons and porter quilter's complete guide.
i just got obsessed and did it. it took a LOT of hours, but i just kept going. i did the blocks in 4 groups, using the scrap bits from that pile to fill in blanks in the new blocks to make sure there was a random element in each block. the one thing i could have spent more time on was the final layout. there are a couple of places where two fabrics butt up against each other and i kind of wanted to avoid that. i could have tooled and fooled with it, but i really wanted to sleep under it.
the aside is that i made it to match my new bedroom in the house we moved into in september. i've never finished a quilt in such a short amount of time, but i seriously went at it.
(i need a job....really.)
thank you so much. so nice to have a place to share it
aileen