I need a math genious to correct my measuring errors...

Well I would love to help but I am hopelessly confused.

Are your blocks all squares? If they are then you can't have 12 square patches each 3.5" in a block. If you cut

3.5" squares and joined them 4 across and 4 down you would have a 12" FINISHED block. That would make it a 16-patch block.

And are your measurements the FINISHED size (NOT including the seam allowances) or are they the size the pressed block ends up before you join them (so includes two seam allowances)?

Press your finished blocks and then measure them and get back to us. And don't panic - there will be a solution.

See how bad I am... I thought 4*4 was 12 :( lol You are correct... its a

16 patch not a 12 ... The pressed size of the pattern is 12 inches, total including the seam allowances... The size of my alternating blocks is 11.5... Was thinking it could be easier to make them all 11 though. 3/8 is harder to measure than 1/4 as the lines on the ruler are bigger. I already messed it up anyhow lol. Just figured I would write this out while eating my dinner... I will be off and pressing now that dinner is done though

Carissa

Well... I pressed and measured. If I leave well enough alone, they are 11.5 in squares. If I want to make them all perfectly identical and square, I would say 11 in square. I have no made up my mind yet. I want my quilt perfect... but I dont want to make it so perfect that it will be sized for a doll house lol Perfection is a slippery slope for me, and its one I rarely ever climb up from lol. So for now I think I would like to know what size to make the 16 little squares so that when sewn together, they make an 11 in square, and what size to make them an 11.5 inch square. My thought is 3

3/8 in squares for the 11.5 and 3 1/4 in squares for the 11. So am I right? or should I just go back to school with my fourth grader? lol

Carissa

Here is how you go about figuring it out.

You want 11 1/2 " UNFINISHED block -- a 4 x 4 grid. Your finished block will be

11 inches square. 11 divided by 4 = 2 3/4" for your FINISHED small block components. Add 1/2 inch to your block in each direction for seam allowances -- that gives you 3 1/4" blocks.

Your UNFINISHED block will measure: (by section) 3 -- 2 3/4 -- 2 3/4 -- 3 for a total UNFINISHED block of 11 1/2".

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For an 11" UNFINISHED block -- same 4 x 4 grid. Your finished block will be 10

1/2" square. 10 1/2 divided by 4 = 2 5/8 inches for the FINISHED block components. Add 1/2" to each block in each direction for seam allowance and your small component blocks will measure 3 1/8" square.

Your UNFINISHED block will measure: (by section) 2 7/8" -- 2 5/8" -- 2 5/8"

-- 2 7/8"

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If you would want to go to 10" blocks -- the measuring would even be easier:

10" FINISHED block -- 4 x 4 sections -- each FINISHED section is 2 1/2" -- so your sections are 3" square (2 1/2" + 1/2" seam allowance).

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Does that make sense? Hope so!

Kate in MI Who in a past life taught 6-7-8th grade math ... including algebra and geometry! And I remember some of it! WOOHOO!

PS -- 10" FINISHED block --- 10 1/2" unfinished... You probably already had that figured out...

your sections would be: 2 3/4 -- 2 1/2 -- 2 1/2 -- 2 3/4 (= 10 1/2 inches!)

Kate in MI

Thank you so much :) It does make sense to me amazingly enough. I thought I was doing great until I realized I only factored in one cut for my alternating blocks... That is why I 'always' follow what the pattern says... when I make up my own they are wrong... And in case anyone is wondering, it will be the butterfly stars I mentioned as a possibility for a school break quilt. I got as far as cutting it out lol... and making the alternating blocks. I am sure I will have plenty of papers to avoid this coming semester thought to work on it here and there :) and PS my brother loved the Japanese garden faux window wall hanging :) Thank you again

Carissa

Carissa, Kate has done all the math. But my advice is to really make sure your alternating HST blocks are all the same size. And if it were me, I'd probably trim them down to a perfect 11", using my 12.5" square ruler with the diagonal line. You match the diagonal line with the diagonal seam, make sure the 2 edges underneath the ruler fall outside the 11" mark, and trim the other 2 edges. Turn the square around, line up the diagonal AND the 2 trimmed edges so the block will be exactly 11", and trim the other 2 edges.

After doing that, make sure your scant quarter inch seam is perfectly accurate. No point cutting accurate squares and then sewing them sloppy. Cut

2 test squares that are exactly 2". Sew them together. Open and press. You should now have a rectangle 2" wide and 3.5" long. If it isn't, figure out why and correct yourself.

There are no Quilt Police, and who knows, maybe if you had just put all your blocks together without checking the size, you would have simply ended up with a slightly smaller quilt than you expected, but no harm done. But if you want perfection, then learn to control your seams! Roberta in D

"Kate G." schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:HMidnbg4MJaHoQLYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

Do not despair, I think this is a natural part of the learning process for many of us. iN class I have my beginning students make the main /multi patched square first then determine THEIR measurement for that square, the pattern may say Unfinshed 12 1/2" but theirs is 12 or 12

1/4", Then we make the alternate square to match their measurement. It ends up being a lesson in the perfect 1/4" or better yet the scant 1/4" seam allowance. Almost, Everyone starts out with this issue. these are not difficult things to learn but coupled with all the other "new " steps in quilting it can be a bit daunting,. Work on that 1/4" seam allowance either by getting or using a foot designed specifically for 1/4" patchwork(well worth the > To make a long and sad story short, I have most of the alternating blocks

If you did this you could just add a narrow border round each block to bring it up to the 12.1/2", then you could do your main blocks as planned.

Sharyn Craig's book 'Setting Solutions' is good for this sort of thing - lots of ways to bring blocks of varying sizes up to the size you want, so it looks as though that is what you intended all the time.

Thank you for all the tips. My problem this time was just neglecting to count one seam all together. The alternating blocks were to be a HST cut in half and sewn back together the other way to it forms the alternating colors in each of the 4 triangle sections. When I planned the size, I accounted for only the one HST cut and seam, not the other... So what was to be a perfect 12 in square, ended up being 11.5. I think I will square everything to 11 though, and while the idea of setting them all and making them 12 as they were intended sounds great... I am too lazy lol thats a lot of borders. and I still have to sew 16 * 18 more little HST and trim them to 3

1/4 instead of the 3.5 I cut them... sigh lol It will be pretty when it is done though.