For fun, I played with your idea of taking out a row on each side of the diagonals, to see how it looks. For my tastes, the center area still looked like too big of a mass of colored squares, so I made every other diagonal use the background fabric. With background fabric between the colorful diagonals, you can really *see* the diagonals, rather than focusing on a large mass forming a rough square where the diagonals all cross.
https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...6240115-q1.jpg

Well, this wasn't fun platyhiker
I wish I could write out like you, because pictures are taken at angles, that I can't match up. I wanted to see how multi blocks would join up.

White out
not write out, post above
stupid Smart phone

I use Microsoft Paint for playing around with pictures. One of the tricks to whiting out is using the Color Picker tool (it looks like an eye dropper and is to the right of the Eraser) to sample a back ground color, and then click Edit colors button (to the right of the colors) and then click Add to Custom colors; now you can use the new color for both box outlines and fills.

I played around and figured out how to square up an image. Your image needed to be rotated a bit counter clockwise.
1) Copy the image into a fresh file
2) Flip the vertical on the image (an option under Rotate)
3) Click on Resize and then set a vertical skew (I had to try a few times - I think I ended up with a 2 degree skew looking good.)
(Optional: You can now flip the vertical again to get things back with same top-bottom orientation as the original; I didn't bother with this image)
4) Copy a rectangular sample and start playing with it

Here's what I ended up with:
https://www.quiltingboard.com/attach...1&d=1636258277
P.S. If you have an image that needs clockwise rotation, just skip step 2.

My two cents? Make two separate quilts. The image that platyhiker posted looks way too busy to me.

I agree.
Maybe a single Irish chain if you really want one?

Something happened late yesterday that discouraged me. You know when you get to a point you just wanna throw it all. I had my iron on cotton setting and went to press my seams for the squares. Some fabric I had been uncertain of content shrunk in from the edges, looked sorta like an apple core template. So, I started ripping the blades off my Dresdens to take non 100% cottons out. IF I don’t just burn the whole mess ( and I know I won’t, it’s a new day-lol) I may make runners out of the 8 Dresden. That is IF I can find enough different Christmas fabrics that ARE 100% cotton.

Why didn’t I catch it on the Dresden, you say?
I told you hubby helps hold my rulers from slipping while I cut.
Now he wants to set and press seams.😳
I was hesitant a lot, so I set the iron to a lower setting concerned that he may leave it on the fabric too long and scorch it. Maybe I should have left the iron on my usual setting and I’d have discovered sooner.

One does learn as one goes.

Because I have had some "surprises" in the past about shrinking, bleeding, and fiber content, I am "a bit" OCD before I get around to actually cutting fabrics.

I do burn tests on fabrics i do not recognize. Some rayons still fake me out.
Soak in hot water, then wash and dry gently.

But - some have said they have never had any problems whatsoever using unwashed fabric.

I have. I have decided it is easier to do prep work ahead of time - even though it sometimes dampens my enthusiasm a lot - than to deal with a mess later. That did not entertain me.