Big blooms octagon quilt
 

I'm ready to start piecing my octagons. I don't want to use squares cut into triangles and then sewn together in rows as kaffe fassett's does in his snowball quilt. I want my squares to be whole pieces and not triangles put together into squares so my polka dots are true in the squares. Any hints on how to do this easily?
Thanks, tp

Is this the quilt you are talking about? http://www.flickr.com/photos/27001012@N00/6265340992/
You would be doing a lot of y seams. The one in the photo was pieced by hand.

Would this work doing like the 10 minute block?

Can you post a picture? It sounds like you will need to use partial seams or inset seams, but not sure without more information.

lovely photo. it does look like Y seams are what you will need to do. marking your 1/4 seam at those Y areas will help you a great deal. slow but steady and you should do fine.

Yes, that's the quilt. Can you explain a y seam. I think I understand. But not sure. Do I begin and end 1/4 inch from each end?

Yes, that's the quilt. Can you explain a y seam. Do I begin each seam 1/4 inch from the end.

hope this works http://video.search.yahoo.com/search...sewing+Y+seams