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.

My quilting instructor always tells us to trim the blocks to match the smallest one. Sometimes I do, sometimes I just put a border on. The other day in our BOM class somehow my block came out way bigger than it should have. (might have been a cutting problem) Anyway, instead of cutting it down, I just added a little more to it and said, "Theres my center medallion." Personally for what you want to do I'd trim them all to the smaller size. Starch stretching can sometimes really mess you up when it's washed--especially if the fabrics weren't prewashed.

Maybe this is a wrong suggestion and the wrong way to look at this but..
I have taken a 1/8" seam when needed.......one here and there might be A/ok

You can fudge a whole lot in the seam allowances and nobody but you will know they aren't perfectly matched on the inside.

Well, I took one of my Joann's 40% off coupons and got a June Tailor Perfect Half Square & Quarter-Square Triangle ruler.

I trimmed all of my HST's first, tossing aside the ones that were less than 4 1/2". I got a total of 126.

Next, are my 4-patch blocks. Hopefully, I will get at 126 out of those, too.

It takes 2 of each for a block, so if I divide 126 by 2, I get 63. That means that I can make 63 blocks, and I can set them 7 wide by 9 long. I think that might work.

Here is a pic of what they look like partially in place.

Danmar said the name of the quilt was Northern Lights, so I think I might call mine Psychedelic Lights.

What do you think?

Ohhh! Love it!
I have some vintage 70's bright fabrics that I've been trying to figure out what design to use. This one looks like a winner. I had been going to use an aqua solid and a hot pink solid, but I think I like the black after seeing this.

I love it too. Nice and bright but the black keeps it in control.

Sounds good to me. I love it. I love black and brights and one of mine is going to be that in the near future.

Okay, here is a sneak preview of my quilt so far.

I found an awesome fabric that I thought would go well as a border.

I took some of the blocks that were too small that I had trimmed down to the next size down that I thought would look great in the corners.

I think it's missing something though......

Or, I was thinking if this didn't work, I would use it as the backing

Great job.

Margie

I like it but I think I'd probably put a narrow bright or light border between the blocks and the dark border.

I've seen some bright striped fabric, I wonder how that would look?

The wilder the better. I audition fabrics. I'll take the parts of the quilt right into the fabric store (if there's nothing at home that works) and go along with one in each hand holding them up to the bolts of fabric until I find the perfect one.

I love your quilt and the border fabric - I would put a skinny black border before the outer border. JMO! Great job!