Rhonda

Sure. If you sew your HSTs together and you see that your point is closer to the edge than 1/4" then you need to redo that seam on that end so you have a 1/4" seam allowance between where your point ends and the edge of the joined fabrics. If you leave your point too close to the edge then you will lose that point when your seam goes through.
The other option is to use smaller seams. But you need to have the same seam allowance throughout the whole project.

If my point is too close to the edge - I take out just about half of the seam in a 1 1/2" block and look at the corners of each of the two blocks I am joining to see if the seam in one block's corner does not go through the corner evenly(as above) or if it was stretched out of shape or wasn't cut quite square. these things will make your HSTs distort and you get a crooked join which will in turn pull your seam out of whack.
You need to make sure: an overview of my process thinking!

1 your block has a seam going evenly to the corner
2 your block is square
3 your seam in your HST was straight
4 Tack the HST's together
5 Check to see if your corners are meeting right before you sew
With pins you can't do this but with tacks you can open up the HST's
and see whether everything is in place correctly.
I don't do this every time but if I have one that is slightly off I check
to see why and can fix it now before I sew it.
6 Sew with as straight a seam as you can. If it is off ( sometimes you can hit a snag or something and it will throw your needle off a little) you need to go back and straighten it.
7. Check to make sure the two blocks are straight with each other If not sew another seam along the first one and straighten any areas that were dipped or crooked. A lot of times I have a tendency to have one end of the joined blocks seem to be wider than the other end. As the picture above. So I go back and tighten it so they lay in a staight line when laying on the table.

8 I always lay my quilt block down and look at it and straighten any seams that have been alittle too wide or too crooked even after I have my quilt top pieced. Before I use it in a project of course.

9 If you see a block that is rippling even a little that means that seam needs to be tightened.

10 I use my fingers and pinch a seam in to see where the problem area is. If I have part of a quilt block that looks like it is leaning to the left or right I will pinch in where the last joining seam (where you have joined 2 four patches for example) and see if that is what will fix it if you were to tighten that seam.


Sorry I know this is more than you asked but I thought I would pull it all together with some thoughts on how I do it.