Look at Woodland Creature go! I'm in awe
SusieQOH, sounds like you have a plan and a ruler to go forward -- does my heart good to see the help and understanding by the others.
I feel really good about my progress. I did indeed zip through cutting the neutral squares. Since they they were all my solid white I had a really good idea of how many I could cut each strip. Not all my yellows were full WoF but I was able to zip through them relatively quickly. My pinks were a slow slog of little bits trimmed even smaller. I got all the lines drawn while watching tv. I am already taking credit for the University of Michigan football win over Ohio State because I got my "Aunt Debbie Bleeds Blue" quilt to her in time for the big game. Yesterday, I was drawing lines on some of the same yellow fabrics during the Michigan/Iowa game -- and Blue won again and I am taking credit for lucky yellow fabric!!
I like the ease and accuracy I get with the rectangle and 2 squares method. At this size, I do just trim off the remainders -- but then I'm not cutting large so I figure about the same amount of fabric usage. Half an inch bigger and I would sew both sides and save the small HST.
Today I start sewing and it will take a bit before I get this step finished, so here's what my pinks look like. That's the funky vintage tray I use for working while watching tv in bed. Multi-tasking quilting even.