August JQ planning

The very act of deciding to do something simple seems to have released the creative juices! So... I've been doing some experiments which have taught me some useful lessons:
* Plan properly before rushing in
* Always measure accurately, doing it by eye is not good enough
* I quite like raw edges, but not sure yet how to get the effect I want ( some pieces just look badly cut out!)
* Surface decoration is more important than piecing to me (never thought I'd ever say that!)
* I have to start to think about what on earth I do with all this "stuff" I'm producing I can't just put it all in a cupboard, too much of it. Samples are ok, they can be cut down and put in the sketchbook, its the "finished" bits I'm worried about.
I quite like the idea that the background is itself pieced - 2 samples made:

This is woven from strips of fabric.

This has 2.5" squares applied to wadding that has adhesive on one side.
I think I prefer the woven version but perhaps with some bondaweb as well.
Then I tried a freezer paper stencil on both samples and sponged fabric dye onto the fabric. This works well and I'll definitely use that technique again.