sashing and/or bordering almost 12 1/2" blocks

C'mon, you guys. Are you going to leave me to muddle through this one on my own?.........might be dangerous.

Qaren, Kueen of Squishies

Your seams won't line up in some places if you do it that way. I prefer the long thin-ish triangles which really hide the differences in the block sizes. You can do the 2-3 in. borders like you said, but just tip your square-up ruler a few degrees when you trim them and you'll have the wonky triangles! (And some slightly bias edges, but not true bias, so it won't be too bad for being stretchy. Maybe cut all the 2-3 in. borders on the lengthwise grain to keep the stretching to a minimum???)

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Or put borders on all four sides and then trim them all to the same size. Maybe use two colors and when you sew the blocks together alternate the colors. Or put narrow borders on all four sides, trim them all to the same size and use another fabric for a sashing between the bordered blocks.

Julia > Your seams won't line up in some places if you do it that way. I prefer the

Do you have pictures of this, Leslie? My Dopamax is not letting me understand this AT all.

Karen, Queen of Squishies

"Put borders on all four sides and then trim them all to the same size."

Isn't that what I said? So it will work?

Karen, Queen of Squishies

If you can pick a size that most of them are, and any bigger can be trimmed down without trimming points, then you only have to add borders to the smaller ones, which if you make good fabric choices you'll find them hard to find in the finished quilt. I've studied several quilt tops that I know have these coping strips in some blocks and it's mostly difficult to spot them.

Cheers Anne

I did that very thing with this quilt, Karen: . It worked fine! :)

You will end up with 16.5 in. blocks if you put 2 in. borders on all four sides. *IF* you put 3 in. borders on all sides of the block.... when you go to square them up, instead of laying the square-up ruler's lines exactly on the seams of the block- or parallel to the seams on the block- tip the square-up ruler so it's NOT parallel to the seams between the blocks and the borders. Maybe tip it one inch off??? Then leave the square-up wonky like that (non-parallel) and trim to the 16.5 in. square. That way you won't have a 2 in. border on one block and a 1.25 in. border on a larger block. The triangles will all be varying sizes of long triangles rather than long rectangles(well, not quite triangles, but not rectangles for sure!). I don't have a scanner, so I don't know how I could make a drawing for you. Darnnit! They look really cool this way and there's no way you can really tell if the blocks are wonky- even if the block is 12 on one side and 11 on the other or something equally strange. HTH (Maybe draw the block and the

3 in. borders on graph or freezer paper then tip your ruler to see how it looks???)

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

O! I C! Triangles. Looks nice, yes. hmm...... But I don't think I should really try that right now. Thanks,

Karen, Queen of Squishies

But, but, - - the smallest block is only 12 inches......... (my brain is whimpering)

Okay, I see what you're saying about the c*ck-eyed look. I do like that. I don't think I should try it this time. I only have 2 yrds. of this (of course) perfect fabric for the job.

Karen

Sandy, what a great idea! Since I participate in block swaps I often find blocks a bit different in size. Seems like 1/2" one way or the other.....Your way of putting the sashing on hides that difference great!

like this?? jeanne

you should have a look at "Setting Solutions" by Sharyn Craig. There was a book on setting recommended on here, I can't remember which it was, but I spotted this in out quilt group library and it's amazing. Some information on setting basically assumes the blocks are the same size and works from there, this book assumes that blocks aren't the same size and has many ways of working with that, even once that is resolved, the sets are far more stunning than anywhere else I've seen. I recently bought "Sensational Settings" by Joan Hanson and though is a similar length, is to me only a subset of what the other book covers. The vast majority of the settings are using identical blocks, with identical fabrics, so if that what floats your boat then it's got clear instructions and would be very helpful, but I see it as more of a technical manual than something that inspires creation, the former book has definitely inspired me to greater things, even though the two tops I've put together since reading it are identical blocks made by me and were pretty consistent size wise.

Cheers Anne

Excellent, Jeanne! Both are excellent examples of what I was trying to describe to Karen. You're amazing at those internet searches! Thanks!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Yes, I see now that that is what you said. For some reason, after reading Leslie's message, I was thinking sashing on two sides and then trimming. If your blocks are reasonably close to the same size, I don't think the difference in size will be too noticeable.

Julia > "Put borders on all four sides and then trim them all to the same size." >

Thanks for asking this! I will be facing the same problem in the immediate future (as soon as I finish machine piecing 4 more sampler squares).

And thanks for the answers too!

Claudia

I don't think so either, I'm going to scatter them all out anyway. I have 2 that are only 12", and then 8 that are 12 1/4", and then 14 that are 12

1/2". And after a good night's sleep and a good cuppa coffee this morning, I'm not going to mess with this perfect pc. of fabric. I'm going to go out and buy another perfect pc. Then I can put 2 1/2" around every block, and trim every block to 15 1/2". Sew the block together and make it look like a nice sashing job. Voila! Quilt top ready to be mailed. You guys are so patient with me. You didn't kick me in the head, spit on me, tickle me, or take away the chocolate. What a great group!

Karen, Queen of Squishioes