Cutting up a floral: I generally don’t fussy-cut (cut out an isolated motif) without a really good reason. I think it becomes too static, too “look at me!” But there are exceptions. The motif won’t look odd if they are not the only ones cut up. If there are 5 that are cut up it will look fine. The exception would be a pictoral representation of a person or animal. You don’t want to appear to have cut off any heads or limbs, but big florals I think are fine. When in doubt cut up one each way and do the 10-ft test–looking at both from across the room.

Cutting up stripes: Roberta Horton recommends an intentionally off-grain approach to cutting up stripes and plaids. I think that works for a crazy quilt where the whole design is off-kilter, but I think it looks unsettling in a more precise design. I always cut the stripes perpendicular to the longest edge because if you miscut or your seams are inconsistent it looks sloppy and I also think cutting this way shows off the stripiness.

The other totally fun thing to do with stripes is to make your binding from them with the stripes running perpendicular to the edge of the quilt. We just sold a Redwork quilt with a jaunty black and white striped binding that looked so playful and sporty. In general I would use all the stripes the same way unless it’s a crazy quilt. It can get a little dizzying to see stripes going every which way, unless the whole quilt is that way.

Good luck!

I’ll give your suggestions some serious thought before putting rotary cutter to fabric!

Also do you have any advice regarding the use of stripes? when cutting stripes into strips is it better to cut them lengthways or cut them short? and does it matter do you think if you have cut them both ways in the same quilt? - ie strips of lengthways stripes and the same stripe fabric cut the other way?