and carefully chose the ones I'd use for each block. Variety and enough fabric were crucial elements and although it LOOKS like lots of fabric, in truth I had only so much of each color.
After choosing, cutting and sewing the other three, I am now down to the final one:
and have such a small amount of brights left over. So, although I failed in the quest to complete them all in that one year, I have (almost) made a series, learned the Y-seam technique, put a serious dent in the stash and had one heck of good time in the process!
Not bad at all..... now to do the quilting.