Originally Posted by Kehoeta
I mean when I have a rectangle - lets say the print. and I need to put the pink on either end as a triangle - the instructions tell you to draw a line midpoint of the pink square - sew on it - then cut off the excess seam allowance. You end up with a bigger rectangle with pink triangles on each end. Looking at my practice piece. The print and blue triangles are easier to see.
Judy - rereading your post. maybe that is why I am so screwed up. The instructions didn't require 12 3.5 blocks. They actually have you make 4 of the pieces as if they are one unit. A rectangle. then - the rest are blocks. DOH!!! It would have been so much easier just to create 12 3.5 blocks. The 4 pieces that touch in the middle are rectangles. Not blocks.
Okay, I see what you mean now. I was thinking those were two half-square triangles sewn together, but they're a rectangle with a piece sewn at each end. AAAAAHH. I have had trouble with those also and found that when you sew the line on the back of the square you are sewing to the rectangle you need to be just a touch toward the corner and not exactly on the line. I put the area of my foot by the needle just on the inside edge of the line so that my seam is about a thread's width inside that line (towards the corner) and that gives enough room for the seam and doesn't make the rectangle smaller. You particularly have to make sure with quilterscache blocks that you are using a scant 1/4" seam and not a full 1/4" seam. I have two 1/4" feet for my machine. One makes a "scant" seam and the other a "full" seam. It's nuts how much difference the width of a piece of thread can make.