The Largest Quilt She's Ever Made - Part....oh who cares?

I've been working round the clock on this thing. It has become the boon of my existence.

Should be 6 1/2"

First - ALL of the squares are coming out smaller than they should. ALL of them. Which means that  I am doing A LOT of trimming off of scraps.

Small Joann's bag STUFFED with scraps.

Not only am I trimming off of my actual squares, I've had to trim down the non-pieced squares to work with the pieced squares. Remember 333 4 1/2" squares and 945 2 1/2" squares? Yeah, that is A LOT of trimming!
Now, I now that part of this problem is my own. I did not do what the pattern writer suggested and make a trial block first to make sure my seem allowance was just right. But I know seam allowance was not that off. I've used the same 1/4" guide foot for the last oh 40 quilts and they've all turned out quite accurate. I also double checked all my cutting measurements, those were good too. So what in the world is the problem?! Oh well.

So after far more trimming that I expected I started piecing. But before I started piecing I decided I better figure out how many of each block I need and set aside the squares for each block.

*Enter new bang head on brick wall moment here.*

As my blocks have been shrinking I have been PANICING thinking I would need to figure out a way to make this thing bigger. Do I need to add a border somewhere? Do I need to order more (more than 29 yards?! gasp) fabric?
The answer is no. I actually seem to have way too much. Like I will easily be making a baby/throw quilt from the extra squares I have been slaving over. How, how did this happen?! I don't know. I am not going to worry about it now. But I sure have learned my lesson - completely deconstruct a pattern, and work it out to your desired size before ordering fabric, and follow the pattern writer's advice at making a sample block and then go to town on the rest. It would be so much better for my health.

And so, after all of this drama, I am finally piecing blocks. And they are coming together qickly and beautifully. And if I somehow messed up on figuring it out again, at least I have a big ol' stack of spares to pick from and make more blocks. 

That's right folks, that is all EXTRA. Sigh

But look - progress!!

My goal is to have the top completely pieced by July 28th, so my husband can help me spray baste it before he heads out on a business trip. Pray it is going to be smooth sailing from here on out.