Pattern orientation dilemma
 

I've been planning to make the Missouri Star Dresden Coin quilt (issue 2 of Block) for my mom using a fall print layer cake. 8 seconds in on this video you can see the quilt on the wall behind Jenny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avef...em-uploademail

I want something I can do fairly quickly to take to her when I go back for a visit in 2 months. I had planned to do 4 columns of the dresden triangles and use 2" sashing. I just did the math and that will end up being bigger than I want at around 5 feet wide and I wanted to keep it closer to 4 feet by 6 feet for a lap quilt. My mom isn't real big and I don't want something that is going to be bulky for her to handle. Not sure I like the look of dropping it to only 3 columns.

I started thinking and I'm wondering if the pattern would look OK with the dresden triangles as rows instead of columns. I could do 5 rows and that works out to about 6 feet long, then just use as many in a row as I need to get a quilt 4 feet wide. What do you think? Would that look OK? It certainly isn't the stacked coin look then and I'm on the fence about doing it this way. Thoughts? Yeah, I know...there are no quilt police and it's my quilt. :) I think my problem is I had one thing in my mind and I'm having trouble shifting gears.

I did find a couple images where it looks like they did it this way.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/571675746422815315/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/571675746422815349/

I really do like the quilts in the pics. They should be quick and easy to put together.

I really like both of them. I think you should just go for it!

You could make your dresden pieces an inch or two shorter and still have the stacked coin effect. Jennie's dresden ruler must be a 10 inch one to fit on the layer cakes perfectly--mine is only 8 inches. I would cut strips 7 or 8 inches wide and cut your wedges from that--would make the quilt smaller and could still have the five columns. This is the way I make all my dresden plate blocks to be the size I want them. Hope this gives you an idea to think about.

Thanks for the input, ladies. I didn't even think about making the wedges shorter. Thanks for the idea, Gladygirl! I think I've decided to go with an entirely different pattern now, but I'm going to keep all your input in mind because I do eventually want to do the dresden coin quilt. Thanks!