Many years ago. I participated in some online block swaps.

They were both made with Moda Marbles black and bright colors; one was for 4 1/2" HST's and the other was for 4 1/2" 4 patch blocks.

After seeing Danmar's Northern lights quilt, I thought this would be a wonderful pattern to follow using these blocks.

I got them out the other night and started laying them out on the floor. I counted the HST's and I had 191. I probably have the same amount of 4 patch blocks. By my calculations, it takes 2 HST's and 2 4-patch blocks to make one larger block for the quilt.

Problem...... they are all not 4 1/2" blocks. Some are slightly larger, not a problem. I can trim them down to 4 1/2".

The big problem is that some of them are slightly smaller than 4 1/2".

I've already trimmed about 45 of the HST's to the correct size and put aside about 12 that are too small.

My question is, do you think I should trim them all down to the same size, which would be 4 1/4". That would make them actually 3 3/4" finished. Or should I just keep going with trimming them down to 4 1/2" and see how many I won't be able to use.

FYI - I figured that I would be able to make the quilt 8 completed blocks wide by 10 blocks long.

Could you try starching the ones that are smaller and see if you can get the seams open a little more to make them 4.5? If not, I don't see a problem trimming them to the smallest block size.

Rachel

I would trim them all the same size. But only if you're sure you will be using all of them.

I'd make them all the same size. I'm not sure about the pattern, but doesn't it have diamonds in it? If so the size variance will show.

When I have done a quilt with pieces or blocks that were too small, if they were just a little too small, I'd use them anyway. Like if they were off by 1/8" I'd mark one edge with a pin, then when I was ready to sew that seam, I'd pin it to the next piece with the edge just "off" from the other piece. As long as you have at least 1/8" of fabric in the seam, it will be fine. Or if you have more than you need, cut them to 4 1/2" and set the small ones aside for another project, either a small wall hanging or pillow.

Well, I was kind of hoping to use all of them.

I'm just trying to figure out if I should do the 4 1/2" trim now, with the possibility of having to go back and re-trim everything again, or just do the final trim now.......decisions, decisions, decisions :roll:

I would want them all to be the same size... set aside the small ones you never know, a re-pressing could stretch some of them out to the right size :wink:

I recently did a quilt top and trimmed down to the smallest -- not a problem really, other than at the end when calculating borders and final size, it seemed harder because the block size was odd....it worked out fine in the end but not a side-effect I had thought about.....

yes, trim all the others first.

I would hold out the smaller ones and make a nice little lap quilt later.