I'm about to work on the quilt for my son and his girlfriend, layed out the strips, and now I'm not sure about my direction.

Dark going outwards to light, or light out to dark?

I like how the darks come out of the dark center and get lighter but, that one my eye just wants to stay right across the center of the quilt. With the light next to the dark center, it looks like it opens it up and makes the eye travel with it.

Also, there are more strips than in this EQ7 picture. There are 4 whites 4 reds, and 4 blacks.

I see it the opposite way! I vote for number 1.

I like the one on the right better: light out to dark for the reasons you described....eye follows the pattern outward.

vote for the one on the right.
When i look at the left one my eyes go right to the black center. And doesn't move

I like the one on the right also.

#2 on the right

I too like the one on the right.
dreamboat

I like the one on the left side!

The one on the left is what I did in EQ7 when I first drew the design. The one on the right is after I layed the fabric out like the design and it didn't look quite right so I layed them out the other way.

I like the one on the right too!