darcysharon, because the fabric was directional and only 10" "tall" and the block is 12.5", I figured it might look strange trying to piece around the block with larger sections of fabric like the pattern shows. So this was my solution to that problem- use all smaller squares and not worry at all about the direction. There already are a lot of neat blocks with fussy cutting with that fabric I figured I was safe not doing it.
There wasn't enough fabric in one fat 8th for all the squares, but since I was making two, I used a bit from the second 8th. Otherwise I would have needed to put a different fabric border around the edge. I already knew what I was doing for the second block so knew I had some extra to work with.
I'm making up for all the small pieces in this block with the second - it only has one large piece of that fabric.