beautiful sampler!

I like piano key borders too, but I always cut my strips into the length I want before sewing. I also cut them along the length of the grain if possible, rather than across the width of fabric, and I starch before cutting. Then I only have to stitch and press, no more cutting and no unsewing (unless I make a mistake, like putting a fabric in upside down, which I have been known to do).

You're welcome ... I look forward to seeing yours!

I don't mind the extra cutting ... I like the sharp crisp edge I get when doing so.
No unsewing (except for upside down pieces) ... as the strips are randomly placed with the pre-cut over-size lengths. Yes wastage, but makes the randomness more certain.

Good thing to mention, Dunster ... to watch for directional fabrics ... and have them placed accordingly when doing piano keys.

I do mine like DOTTYMO. Sew the 2 1/2" strips together while they are still 44" wide in groups of 7 or 8, press, then cut to 6 1/2" and join them end to end. It doesn't really take long - not like the time I decided to use flying geese.
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QuiltE, it is amazing how changing fabrics can make such a difference in a quilt. They are both wonderful.

Irishrose, yours is lovely, too. And I see you did the mitered corners as well. Very nice. I really love the look of the piano keys.

QuiltE your quilts are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Irishrose, what a beautiful quilt!!

I do mine similar to IrishRose.
--I make strata while the fabrics are WOF -- just sewing strips together and I don't usually care if I have the same width strips or not. If some strips are too short, I just add another strip to fill in the length (saw this on Simply Quilts -- don't remember who was on). Sometimes, if I feel doing extra work, I will stitch the strips together, but usually I just but the ends together.
--I usually make at least 2 or 3 different strata so I get a random assortment of strips. I cut the strips the desired length (though I add 1/2" extra not 1" extra). I skip over the area where the strips are joined when I make my cuts.
-- If the fabrics are non-directional, I'll turn the smaller strip sets upside down to make them more irregular.
-- I join the smaller strip sets together to get the length I want for the sides.

If my strips are different lenghts, I use corner stones instead of mitering the corners because my eyes like all the strips to match and irregular widths give me fits.

Beautiful quilts! I do my piano key borders like QuiltnLady1 and IrishRose - assorted strips cut WOF and then cut to desired length. I make 2-3 different sets of 6-8, cut to width and join randomly.