hey, brat, you pays your money, you takes your choice. most , i think, find the smallest block, and either trim everyone else down or as yous suggested, add a sashing. a big determinant to me is, will i lose points to seams moved in, or would i rather have one or two quietly framed? what are you imagining? there's your answer.

I think some are not watching the size of their blocks then. Remember they are to measure 12.5".

I generally take mine apart and resew if can to get the right size if they do not come in correctly. But if don't want to do that, sizing up is the better alternative as nancia said so you don't loose points. Now if my blocks are 12.25" to 12.75", I fudge them to the 12.5" so they all fit correctly. I did a BOM with Laura Heine in Billings, Montana, one year and she did the blocks on point and she made up this border angle sashing strip that allowed me to add widths to the sashing to frame my blocks so that way they all finished at the same size. Not sure if she sells it anymore but works great for aiding in getting blocks all the same size. The bad part of it was that you had a little waste on your strips if you did not cut them the width of the fabric versus selvage to selvage.

I made a really hard block one time and when it was done it was only a 10" one so I added a border around it and it really made it prettier than before the border! I hate to trim one down and lose the points also...sometimes it just doesnt come out to exactly 12.5" but most of the time you can adjust or add to get them to work in the quilts. I wish there was a link for "finished quilts" in Booms. I love seeing what everyone finishes!

They did that in the ornament swap where she put all the photos of the ornaments in one thread. Good question if Lovingisabella is able to do that. Hey Loving?

I'll take tooooo big over lost points any day! But I'm with QuilterMomma...I will border, sash and redo as needed to get them to play nicely. :)

Received a block from Nexus. thank you very much. It is very pretty and plays well with my other civil war blocks.

I trim down some or add borders to make them the same size. :)

I made two sets of place mats, pictures in my album. I actually replaced all the pictures that were too large, my new camera takes pictures that are adjustable, but the quality is not that good! Oh well the price you pay! I got 9 packages mailed out today! I think next year I am going to send gift cards, after spending $52.64 on postage! But the worse is we are still not done!

I got my order from Joann's today! it only took 3 full weeks! what a drag that was, but now I am going to be able to finish a present that was put on hold!

No new squishies today.

I received this beautiful block from Lv2sew2011 today - it is just perfect to go in my quilt. Thanks so very much - I love it.

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Update - I have not received blocks from areinn, Linda58, ok darla, oldcatlady, quilter momma, savannahrandons, and scrapper.

Marybeth we are nixing gift cards. If you dont purchase them at the store they are good in (ie say you buy them at the market?) there is a $5 per card sur charge on each one. I get the store wants to make a buck but five? sheesh. Glad you got your packages out. and didnt you say twelve packages so averaged out hey just like a gift card! but.. gift cards sure are much easier. I like gifting when it hits me vs when you feel you are obligated to. More spontaneous stuff works for me. I get this anxiety thing when I 'need' to finish by a deadline. Today is a high in the chest anxiety feeling. iw ill put the mystery train quilt together today. I hate pinning. I also have to start quilting as today and Sunday are my only days to quilt it and bind it as it goes to Sacramento on Monday. I prayed for its leaving here to be Tuesday but such is not the case so wish me luck everyone. gulp.