Using Up Some Left Overs

I'm working on Betsy's Crow pattern which will be one side of a pillow.  The crow has been hooked and now am hooking the patchwork background.  But first I need to address a topic my gal pal (you know who you are Lauren) asked and which I think many newbies might want to know.  Lauren is not a newbie she just keeps me on my toes.  She wanted to know if I used left over strips for my crow.  The answer is YES.

Above is a close up of the crow where I cut only a few black/dark strips to go with the left overs.  I knew there were dark strips which had purple, green, red, black and some or combination of colors in the same strip.  All wonderful iridescent crow or raven colors when hooked. 

So now it is on to the background.  Oh my, the easy hit and miss patchwork background, right?  WELL.... the hit and miss sure looks like it is easy and when it is all done it looks great and everyone thinks it is a piece of cake.  

The patchwork background I'm trying to do is using neutrals and I'm having a hard time trying to choose what is next to one another so there is a difference in value. 

You see all those lines in the linen and obviously you can see I've taken liberty with the exterior design for MY pillow dimensions. 

Stay tuned, who knows what this rouge hooker will do next.  Hope you all wake up to a good morning tomorrow.  This morning for me it was a sheet of ice on my steps, the tree limbs were encrusted with ice and even the blades of grass looked like crystal.    Drive safely.

Saundra