A little Experiment
 

I wanted to see if I could get four groups of strips to turn into something similar to a picture I saw online. Other than cutting one the wrong way, it looks like I can do it. And with a bit of beige, I might be able to mimic the Tradewinds pattern as well. These are just some 2.5 inch scraps I had. I think if I actually make one, I'd rather use batiks.

What does this do for you?

Interesting, and a great way to use scraps! Might be a bit much if you didn't use sashing, though?

I have a suggestion. Take your two blocks of strips, like you have in the first picture. Put one block face up with the strips going east-west. Put the second block face down on top of it, with the strips going north-south. Sew a quarter inch around all 4 sides. Then cut it in a big X. You will get 4 blocks.

This is basically how I made this quilt, although I alternated light and dark strips.

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It's funny you should mention sashing. I have seen it with and without, and the one I fell in love with is the one that has sashing. I will definitely be putting some sashing in mine.

I love the colors you picked for your quilt. Thanks for showing it to me.

That's how I did my bed quilt I made last year. It goes really fast. I made all the blocks for a king sized quilt over Labor Day weekend around a few other activities.

Your third picture is looking closer to the tradewinds pattern. Keep messing with it until you are happy with it. Name really is as important as you liking it.

Boston, that's really cute! Love those fabrics.

oh that is going to be so cute, scraps or batiks!

I like a lot!

Peckish, was it important to have the same width of all your scraps to make this pattern or could they vary?

I used jelly rolls, so mine were all 2.5" by 44". You can vary the width of the strips. If you google "Sonja's Windows quilt" you will see what it looks like with varying width of strips. This is actually where I got the idea for my quilt from, although I found out later that it's very similar to the 3 Dudes quilt pattern, only they used 4 strips instead of 5, and didn't alternate contrasting fabrics.

Wait - when you say "width" are you referring to the 2.5" measurement, or the 44" width of the strips I used? You can use shorter strips, like from your stash. 5 strips at 2.5" wide will give you a section that is 10.5" tall. So you need strips that are at least 10.5" long, because they need to be square when you sew them together. Hopefully that makes sense?