Hi, I am quite a new quilter and it seems I have picked a hard block because it looked so cool. Now I am having problems getting the diamond point to fit into the corners with out puckering. Can anyone help me by telling me how thay do it? Thanks Feather

are you doing this type?

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/Carpe...heelBlock.html

i'm soooo glad you asked, Feather! I was struggling with this one, too.

Thanks, kwhite, for tracking down this method for the block. :P

I'm working on a carpenter's block and do lots of stars.. yes, you did pick a difficult one.. a few little hints for this.. or any block with lots of converging pieces. precision is the key. I make a template.. then I lay it on the back of the fabric...mark around it. then I mark my 1/4" seam allowance.. cut it out.
do this for every piece.. pin the pieces together precisely and make sure every one is stitched right on the lines. For the center star, I stitch the points into pairs. then I stitch 2 pairs together, so I have 2 halves. then make a single seam across the halves. I stitch mine by hand so when I get to converging points, I take small "tacking" stitches to match pairs of points so there are no "belly buttons" in the center, and the points are all right there.
for the outer star ring I stitch the sets of 3 points together. then I set the squares in between the central star points. Make sure the point of the square
is aligned with the "corner" of each star point. then stitch in the diamond trios and finish off with the outer squares and triangles. Oh, and as with any block.. be careful not to stretch any bias sides.

This isn't a pattern I would ever recommend to a beginner. You may want to set it aside to finish after you have more experience.

I think the easiest way to piece a Carpenter's Wheel accurately is to draw it on freezer paper first with a permanent Sharpie. Cut out along the lines, then iron the freezer paper pieces to the right side of fabric. Cut the fabric, leaving 1/4-inch seam allowance. Leave the paper on as you piece. The edges help you line up the seams accurately, and the freezer paper keeps bias edges from stretching.

Oops! Sorry, I think I have confused this with a different quilt pattern -- can't remember the name right now. Not sure this method is best for your needs.

believe it or not, some blocks are actually much easier to hand piece than to machine piece.

this might be one of them.

because with hand piecing, one generally just sews the seam to the next joining point. then when the next piece is added, the seam allowances can go whichever way they need to.

You might want to try the square in a square method. I have lots of her
books and I just finsihed this quilt. Eveything comes out so square and
all the points are good.

Good Luck.

I can completely understand where you are coming from. I chose this pattern for my first quilt and my mom didn't bother to tell me how hard it was. It taught me many valuable lessons..LOL

Sorry I can't be of much help as the whole thing was hard for me. But, I can tell you that the pattern I used the triangles were not semetrical. I made so many mistakes before I realized they had to be set a certain way to fit right. You might want to double check that.

I ended up being very happy that I chose this block because after doing something so hard, everything else felt easy and really fun without frustration. Now I'm not as afraid as I used to be of trying new things. Nothing has been as hard as that first quilt.

I wish you the best of luck:)

Lynette

Thanks for all the good advice!! I already have all the pieces cut out and so I guess I will have to keep going. I will use all of the advice and keep trying. Thank you this has helped. Feather