Tricky Pieced Inset Blocks

 I put the pedal to the metal this week and finished all of the remaining alternate blocks for my Cake Stand quilt.

To make it go even faster, I broke one of my self-imposed rules: all seams must be pinned. That’s right ... I only used one pin at the end! All of the fabrics in these blocks are low volume prints, so if the seams don’t line up, it won’t be that noticeable. 

There are one or two seams in each block that are slightly off, and I think they’re hard to see… well, at least with my old eyes.

After finishing all the square blocks, it was time to start working on the corner blocks and inset blocks.

Below is a clip of the corner of the quilt image pulled from EQ8.  As you can see I don't plan to add borders so the inset pieced blocks will have triangles on the edge of the quilt.

When drafting the cutting instruction page from the information given to me by EQ8, I totally overlooked that EQ had made a huge mistake. It instructed me to cut a 2 1/8" square in half diagonally. Well, that’s WRONG, because that would make the edge of the quilt bias-cut, which would make it stretchy and hard to control. Even with the fabric being starched, it’s not a good idea.

I went back into the program to see if I had done something wrong. I hadn’t. I knew I needed a larger square that would be cut diagonally twice, but I didn’t know how to do the math.  So I used a Quilters Paradise calculator that does the math for inset triangles.  Within seconds I had the new measurement .... 3 1/8" squares.

Here's one of the leftover squares I cut in half to show you the stretch when fabric is cut on the bias.

Below I'm trying as hard as possible to stretch the fabric and it doesn't move when trying to stretch the outside of the square.  The diagonal cut(above) was easy to stretch out of shape.

With the new measurement it was time to dig through the low volume scrap bins.

Before cutting all the squares needed I made a couple test blocks to make sure the measurement was correct.  All was well!  Yippee!

This week I plan to start working on these blocks.  The blocks are a little finicky due to them being so small and the pressing has to match up with the Cake Stand blocks.  Some of the seams are pressed open and some are to the dark.  Hopefully once I do a few of them I'll get the pressing directions down pat and it will go faster.

Of course cutting the inset pieces produced some some scraps that will need to be processed into the new scrap saver system.  This will be put on my list of things to do this week.

I've also pulled the yellow scrap bin and will begin cutting circles for my Yo - Yo coverlet.

Before I can do anything, the cutting table needs to be cleared.  What a mess!  First thing to do is put the Cake Stand quilt blocks on the design wall.  The inset triangles can be added to the wall as they are made.

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