Bento Box and Random Reflections

Here are two quilt tops. I have been working on the Bento Box quilt for some time. I did not start with a clear idea of how much fabric it would take or how big I wanted it, so I had to keep getting more fabrics. 

The strips are all 2.5 inches, except for one block which is not a bento block.  As I was getting ready to assemble I saw that I needed one more block to make the rows come out right. So I grabbed an orphan block made with black/white prints and trimmed it to the size I needed. (You can try to find it for yourself.)

Also pictured here is my first attempt at a Random Reflections quilt made with scraps of the black and white prints I have collected. I threw in a couple of red prints for fun.

I saw this pattern on Flickr and thought "Oh, I can do that." It is a lot harder to figure out than I first thought and the first two groups of strips I made did not look anything like the quilt in the picture.  So I went back on Flickr and found the link to the Moda Bake Shop directions for this quilt.

I will be making more quilts in this pattern in larger sizes, using jelly roll strips and Kona solids.  I have several lovely jelly rolls lying around here needing to be cut into.

So the moral of the story is: Sometimes it is better to just go ahead and read the directions. Then you can decide for yourself if you want to follow them :)

Gale