I spent a couple of hours this afternoon sliceing and diceing and sewing my samples. I did find out something that may or not help out. In order to finish your block to the full 8 1/2" size, you really have to sew your seams with a "scant" quarter inch. Rather then fight that seam, I cut my squares 5 1/8th " and still sewed a scant 1/4th". I had to square it and had to cut off just a bit but it is now 8 1/2" square. Now I have to work on getting those tiny seams in the middle to behave.
I am getting really excited about this swap. So...what is the theme for the Dec. swap?