Hand dyes

Last May I started to learn how to dye fabric. This has been a real learning experience. The quilt that I have been showing on Design Wall Mondays for the last three weeks is all done in hand dyes to get the correct shade of colors. I do pretty good in following the instructions on Pro Chemical and dying website and a couple of books that I have. All of the fabric pieces that I have done so far have been 1 yard or more cuts. My problem is that I want to do some 6 step gradation using only FQs'. The reason for doing only FQs' is that I like to do scrappy and applique quilts and large yardage would most likely sit in my stash. Plus I only have so much room and money to experiment. I did a couple of colors to see how they would come out. My 6 step gradation come out to have only 2 gradations in color in IMHO. I think that I am using to much dye for the concentration of water ration. I use 2 tsp of dye to 1/2 cup of water and keep adding 1/4 of water back into the mixture of dye of the next step. As you can see the first 4 FQs are very dark and the 6th step is lighter in shade. If someone can till me what I should be doing for FQs and not whole yardage I would greatly appreciate the advice.
Cheryl M.