I have been working on this on and off for a while - and started using the dimensions I got from Quilt Deisign Wizard. Then . . .I got my super duper Fons & Porter rulers that changed my quilting life! I love these rulers so much - but now my blocks have somehow ended up a few different sizes. Some are 12.5 like they should be. . some are closer to 11.5 - and all inbetween.

Any idea's as to how I can put this together and not look too bad? This is just for me and I will love it no matter what. I had a lot of fun doing the piecing and learned a lot. But I also want it to look as good as possible.

I don't want to start over - and I was hoping I could somehow work the sashing to mask some of the different sizes. .

I also can't cut them all down because it will ruin some of the blocks. . any ideas??

I would use the multi print to add strips to the small blocks to make them all 12.5". Add like a 1" strip on all 4 sides, then trim down to 12.5". assemble the quilt using the tan as sashing.

Paper princess has a good idea. Using the multi-print to add the extra needed piece will make any seams almost invisable. Then add sashing as usual and finish a great quilt.
Peace

I thought of sashing and then having them be off set hard to explain in type but maybe making a 12" in to a 14 x 16 rectangale shape by adding a boarder around the block, then doing on the 12 1/2 size then a 10" and making it into a pizzle with sashing and boarder to break it up. Hard to image yeah wish I could print my ideas. sry if its no help.

I guess my idea was on the order of the way they do appl. sampler quilts.

You could try to set them on point with sashing. Finding 3 or 5 the same size for a row is easier than a straight set where you would notice if a row were smaller than another. Just food for thought.

The lady that is teaching me how to quilt finished a quilt from the blocks her aunt had made a long time ago. The blocks were not the same size. She sewed a tiny orchid print around the outside edge of all the blocks, and then trimmed them all to a standard size. She used a light orchid solid as sashing. It turned out to be a lovely quilt. What ube quilting said would work well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. . .now that I look at them 6 of the 16 are 12.5 on the dot. Those are the ones I made with my rulers. The other are all about 12 to 12 1/4 so just a tad short.

Do you think a boarder that small around the 10 blocks would look funny? Or should I put a boarder around all of them at maybe 13?

I thought about the on point. But some of these blocks loose their look on point. . .too bad since I really do like that look better :)

Can you group them into rows of blocks that are the same in one dimension? If yes, you can add plain blocks/wide sashing to fill out the shorter rows to match the others.

If not -- you might have to just try out the very narrow build out of a block and see what you think.

I am sure it will be beautiful however you put it together. Great choice of colors.

This is an excellent idea! The multi print is perfect for being able to do this.

I would audition some other colors that maybe seem really outrageous like black or red, a darker turqouise, or royal blue or purple, you might find something for sashing that would really set them all off. It seems like you have an odd number, so maybe you could use some big squares to alternate and come out with a good number for your quilt. I always have crazy ideas, but sometimes they work out!

First of all, I think your colors are extraordinary....very nice, soothing blend. If it were me and I was making it for myself I'd just cut everything down to 12 1/4" ....yes maybe the points would be off just a hair on the 12 1/2" blocks but, as you say, there's only 6 that came out that way and you might be able to steam the 12" blocks and stretch them slightly to almost come up to 12 1/4" and you could sew less than 1/4" seams. And once it's done and quilted you'll probably never notice if the points are exact because it's such a pleasant pattern. As my Grandmother use to say, "You'll never notice it on a galloping horse!" GOOD luck!

The color choices are gorgeous. All the responses have great ideas for fixing the problem, and I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

This is the PERFECT opportunity for some Setting Solutions. Best quilting book I ever read. Yep, actually read. It's by Sharyn Craig, and came out about 10 years ago.

It's about how to take a bunch blocks from a swap, that are all different sizes, and make them work together in a quilt. And trying to do something really interesting and different with them instead of a standard 3x4 grid.

It all depends on much you want to put into this quilt, and if you need to, are willing to maybe make another block or two.

Now, your blocks are a bit homogeneous because you made them all from the same few fabrics (the examples below were made by different people with different stashes).

Personally, I'd probably at least try Linda's suggestion of going outside the box. And do to something with the setting so it's not the standard grid.

My NYC bee group did a Round Robin sort of venture back in 2002 after Sharyn's book came out.

The idea was to have a bunch of blocks (made by others so they were a bit disparate - their definition of blue isn't always your definition, nor is their 1/4" the same - convoluted rules for that part of the RR) and then we each had to make a quilt based on that group of blocks (12-14) for another member. And you were NOT allowed to just put in sashing in a grid pattern and border it. You HAD to do something to make it special.

Confusing? It was a bit. ;-)

Here are the results (I had uploaded them for another post months ago):
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-113103-1.htm#2935937

And if you look at the 5th quilt down (the dark navy), that's the one Carolyn made for me. YAY! But notice how she brilliantly placed blocks on point with straight set blocks in HER setting solution.

It's my 2nd favorite quilt. My 1st is my avatar, which is the 1st RR I did with this same group of ladies.

(I designed and made the Lone Star quilt as my SS for another member.)

Anyway, if you can get your hand on the book, it's a great read, and full of suggestions. If you come across it in a store, just go to page 78(?) where there is a picture of a bunch (20?) of blocks - blue stars on white background - from a swap with a large group. So no two were the same size, blues were all over the place, etc.

Meh. But over the next 3-4 pages, you begin to see how she transforms those blocks into the most amazing quilt. And when you look at that quilt, you would never think just blue and white star block.
And you don't even have to like that quilt - or the others in the book.

The idea or goal is to make something really original and different, and also learn how to deal with all the wonkiness that come with a bunch of blocks that aren't all perfectly coordinated , whether in size or color of style.

eta:
You might want to check out a color wheel - just Google, there are a ton out there. Here's one I picked at random.
http://www.worqx.com/color/color_wheel.htm or here
http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/...tm#Color_Wheel

If you start with the yellow and turquoise, it's interesting to see that fuschia could be the 3rd player in triangle.
Or a green, if you went with analogous colors.

And we're not talking huge amounts. Even if you bordered each block with a 1.5" strip, and then trimmed them down to the same size, you could now sash them if you wanted with the print fabric to build up the quilt size, but that little zing would add so much to the quilt.

Of course, you don't have to do anything. But it's an interesting exercise to see how you can make a sampler quilt not look like a sampler quilt.

Thanks for the info! See that's it's available on Kindle for $9.99. Of course it won't be in color but the info will still be there.

Ah, right. No color. Duh!

That's too bad because there were some amazing transformations in there. But you're right, the info is still there. And keep a look out for it in shops just so you can see the colors.

It's interesting how the price of this book itself hasn't dropped down to, you know, $8, like a lot of other older books. Used on Amazon is still $17.

Our guild was making a raffle quilt from blocks that were made by our members, and some of them were oversized and some were up to 1" under sized.
We used a setting that used long triangles on each side of the block to tilt the block a bit. We were able to trim the blocks all to 15" and none of them looked to be a different size. The secret is to use a print fabric that won't show the seams when the blocks are sewn together. I have seen this called twist & turn and topsy turvy.
http://www.maryquilts.com/twisted-happy-block-quilt/
Something like this, but the sashing can be narrower.