indigofab

Decisions, decisions. Can't make up my mind which route to take.

I have a bunch of blocks, each with an appliqued motif (different geometric shape) in the middle. For example, one is a ring (circle with the center also cut out). The untrimmed block is oversized at 13.5"-ish - I left myself some wiggle room.

The blocks will finish at 12" (or thereabouts), the motifs are all 8" so the trapunto won't interfere with any block seam allowances.

I also want a real puffy trapunto so I'll probably be putting 2 or 3 layers (depends on what kind of loft I can dig up here).

Here's the dilmenna - should I....

1) Trapunto the motifs first, trim the blocks to 12.5", and then sew them together
2) Trim to 12.5" now, sew them together, and then trapunto the motifs
3) Trim to 12.5" now, trapunto the motifs, and then sew together

I'm leaning towards option 2 because I think I can better control the squareness of the quilt top as trimming the blocks will be easiest while flat. I can always baste (hand or spray) the quilt top to the shape/measurements I want when I sandwich it before I FMQ. I'll be using cotton batting.

It's a baby quilt; it's not going to Houston so I'm not looking to go overboard here with a technique. And I don't care if I lose a couple of inches overall because of the trapunto. But I'm more concerned with controlling the trapunto and having a reasonably square/straight quilt.

I've been mulling this over since 6AM and just can't commit to a plan. And I really want to get it done today.

Any thoughts/advice/experiences would be much appreciated. TIA.