Construction Step #3 - Strip piecing Neutral background

Welcome back for Week Three of the Oh My, Scrappy Stars! quilt along....

During the past week, two more ladies have joined the Flickr Group!  Introducing....

On Flickr known as Quilt When I Can / Marissa. http://www.flickr.com/photos/70504452@N04/

On Flickr known as Shahann. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60819259@N03/

Also, Julianne has added her first picture to the group!  Thank you, Julianne!

Later on today (when it's light out again) I will share a picture of my completed and basted quilt top!  I am sew excited to be starting on the quilting!

Without further ado, here are this week's instructions.......

Construction STEP 3:

To make the scrappy neutral background, you will need all your remaining 2.5” strips to make:
 • 18 Rows of 12 – 2.5” squares
 • 24 Rows of 10 – 2.5” squares
 • 12 Rows of 7 – 2.5” squares
 • 12 Rows of 6 – 2.5” squares
 • 48 Rows of 5 – 2.5” squares
 • 24 Rows of 4 – 2.5” squares
 • 24 Rows of 3 – 2.5” squares
 • 72 Rows of 2 – 2.5” squares
 • And 56 single 2.5” squares

Take all the strips and and cut a sliver from off the folded edge to make each strip into two 21” lengths

 

You should now have:

o       16 – 21” strips of the Pale Blue, Orange, Green and Yellow (BOGY)

o       24 – 21” strips of the Solid Pale Beige

o       108 – 21” strips of the 18 other Neutrals

ROWS OF 12-

Take 4 of your BOGY (one 21” strip from each), 3 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 17 of your other Neutrals.

 

Arrange these 24 strips into two groups of 12.  Do not put any BOGY strips at the ends (sides).

Keeping the trimmed edges flush, NOT the selvage edges, sew along the long edge. With right sides together (RST), sew the strips from each group into pairs and then into 3 sets of 4.  Press seams open as you go.

Take the 2 sets of 4 from each group and sew them into two sets of 8.  Press seams.

Then add the remaining two sets of 4 to the sets of 8.  You will now have two sets of 12.  Press the seams open.  For each set, SPARINGLY trim the end square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 12.  You should get 8 rows from each set giving a total of 16 Rows of 12.  Two more are needed, but will be made the last step with the Rows of 2.

ROWS OF 10-

Take 4 of your BOGY (one 21” strip from each), 4 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 22 of your other Neutrals.

Arrange these 30 strips into three groups of 10.  Do not put any BOGY strips at the ends (sides).

With RST, sew the strips from each group into pairs and then into 6 sets of 4.  Sew the 6 sets of 4 into 3 sets of 8.  Press seams open as you go.

Then add the remaining three sets of 2 to the sets of 8.  You will now have three sets of 10.  Press the seams open.  For each set, sparingly trim the end square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 10.  You should get 8 rows from each set giving a total of 24 Rows of 10.

ROWS OF 6 & ROWS of 7-

Take 4 of your BOGY (one 21” strip from each), 4 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 12 of your other Neutrals.

Cut 2 of the Beige strips into 10 ½” lengths and set aside.  Leave a note on your cutting mat to remind you not to cut the strips sets entirely into Rows of 6, but to add the short beige strips as outlined in the next step.

Arrange the remaining 18 strips into three groups of 6.

With RST, sew the strips from each group into pairs and then into 3 sets of 6.  Press seams open as you go.

For each set, trim the edge square.  NOW, as before, you will be crosscutting into 2.5” Rows of 6, but only halfway up the sets.  You will get 4 rows from each set giving a total of 12 Rows of 6

Now, sew three of the Beige half strips, that you had set aside, onto the sides of the remainder of the sets, as shown, making sets of 7.

For each set, sparingly trim the edge square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 7.  You should get 4 rows from each set giving a total of 12 Rows of 7.  Crosscut the remaining Beige half strip into 4 single 2.5” squares and set aside by placing them in a baggie or container.

ROWS OF 5-

Take 1 of your Pale Blue, 1 of your Pale Orange, 3 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 24 of your other Neutrals.

Take 2 of your Pale Beige strips and 18 of your Neutral strips.  Trim the ends square and crosscut 2 off of each strip to make 40 single 2.5” squares and set aside with the other 4 cut in the last step. 

Now arrange the remaining portion of those 20 strips into 4 sets of 5.

And arrange the other whole strips into 3 sets of 5.

With RST, sew 4 of the strips from each group into pairs and then into a set of 4.  Add the remaining strips to make sets of 5.  Press seams open as you go.

For each set, sparingly trim the edge square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 5.  You should get 24 Rows from the 4 short sets and 24 Rows from the other 3 sets, giving a total of 48 Rows of 5.

ROWS OF 4-

Take 1 of your Pale Green, 2 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 9 of your other Neutrals.

Arrange these 12 strips into three groups of 4.

 

With RST, sew the strips from each group into pairs and then into a set of 4.  Press seams open as you go.

For each set, trim the edge square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 4.  You should get a total of 24 Rows of 4.

ROWS OF 3-

Take 1 of your Pale Yellow, 2 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 6 of your other Neutrals.

Arrange these 9 strips into three groups of 3.

 

With RST, sew 2 strips from each group into pairs and then add the other strip to make 3 sets of 3.  Press seams open as you go.  For each set, trim the edge square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 3.  You should get a total of 24 Rows of 3.

ROWS OF 2-

Take 4 of your Solid Pale Beige, and 20 of your other Neutrals.

 

Take 2 of your Pale Beige strips and 10 of your Neutral strips.  Trim the ends square and crosscut 2.5” off of each strip to make 12 single 2.5” squares and set aside with the other 44 cut previously.  This will give you a total of 56 single 2.5” squares. 

Now arrange the remaining portion of those 12 strips into 6 sets of 2.

And arrange the other whole strips into 6 sets of 2.

With RST, sew the pairs together.  Press seams open.

For each set, trim the edge square and crosscut into 2.5” Rows of 2.  You should get 42 Rows from the 6 short sets and 48 Rows from the other 5 sets, giving a total of 90 Rows of 2.  However you will need to use 12 of them to make the remaining Rows of 12 needed.  So you will have 78 Rows of 2 in total.

Take 12 of these Rows of 2.  Line them up in 2 sets of 6.  With RST, sew the pairs together to make 2 Rows of 12.  Press seams open.

In addition to the 16 rows made previously, you will now have a total of 18 Rows of 12.