craftgrrl | My first posty

I've been lurking for a while. Ever since I found this community, I've been sewing like crazy. I've already finished a few projects, and have a few in the works.

I recently noticed that my 9 month old son had a lot of cloths that didn't fit him. A lot of stuff wasn't really special enough to keep, but I hate throwing stuff away so I decided I would find a way to use them, thus the blocks. He loves them.

I do need some advice however. They seem lumpy to me (especially the first one on the right), how do I make them not bulge like they do? It bugs me. >.<

So while making the blocks, I went about cutting ton of little squares. My sister-in-law suggested that I make him a quilt out of them. I have never attempted anything like that in my life, but I'm gonna try.

So far I've gotten that top row done. How should I go about connecting the next row? Should I do it like the first then connect the two strips, or should I connect the pieces of the next row to the top as I go along? I'm hand sewing it, if that makes any difference...

Here is the pattern I'm doing.