I acquired about 30 of these 12-inch blocks, they are all hand pieced, and consequently, not completely consistent in size and/or shape. Some of the inconsistency will 'quilt out' and be fine, but in cleaning/pressing them, I realized some are off in size by as much as 1/2 to 1/4 inch. I need advice on how to ustilize all the blocks in a single quilt and get them to 'fit'. Should I border each one and then trim to a consistent size? What other advice can you offer so I can use them all?

My idea would be the same as yours regarding resizing the blocks but
I just had to tell you that I LOVE the photo of them on the line! =)

I was going to say the same thing. Leave them there. They look so cute!

I think you have the right idea, border and then cut the borders to size. They are so beautiful! Makes me want to hunt some down.

There is a free video on Sharon Schamber's website showing how to stretch/block quilt blocks using spray starch...

How to shrink and square your block

http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com...5/Default.aspx

How to enlarge/stretch a block

http://www.sharonschambernetwork.com...7/Default.aspx

Thanks so much, I've actually probably stretched a few of them some pressing them and spraying with starch trying to get them to lay flat and not bow up in the middle, which actually worked pretty well...I'll give this a try and see how it does, I have 30 of them, but not all need to be stretched, so I should be able to do it, I'll let you know how it turns out!

I would follow your own suggestion ie. border each one and then trim to consistant size.

Small world....I just received some star blocks that are hand pieced and they look very similar to yours!! I've cut some down to try to get as square as I can. I think I'm going to do what you've suggested and border them and try to get them a uniform size. Many of the points aren't consistent either but that makes them charming.

I thought about cutting these down some too, but I was trying to save the points, I'm thinking now maybe using the block stretching technique on the ones that are really small and then adding a small border to them all, I just love these and can only imagine how long it took to paper-piece the pieces together that make the points, then put the blocks together, so I just had to save them, thanks for your reply.

What a wonderful find. The easiest thing to do would be use the square in a square techinque to turn them on point and float them. You would have enough for two bedsize quilts especially if you then added colorful borders. Have fun.