Trapezoids and Triangles

Being new to machine quilting I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew. The local Brown Bag Challenge has provided an opportunity to compete with other quilters that I eagerly embraced. The chosen pattern seemed simple enough - a nine-patch surrounded by trapezoids and triangles. Yet something didn't seem quite right after all the pieces were cut.

The central  nine-patches were simple to put together using strip piecing techniques learned earlier. The problem was the trapezoids and triangles that surround the nine-patch blocks. The triangles joining the trapezoids just seemed way too large. I put them together, but there was an awful lot of fabric left that didn't match up. After a bit of help from my friend the seam ripper four blocks were completed. The extra fabric was ignored.


These blocks were supposed to measure 12 inches when completed. Mine measured 11 3/4 inches.  I suspect that my cuts were slightly off.

My original plan was to put sashing between the blocks. The blocks looked fine when laid out against the sashing and background fabric. When joined it just didn't look right. So... rip, rip, rip.

Next I tried joining the blocks together, but the points were disappearing. So... rip, rip, rip.

After two failed attempts to make the points stand out I gave up and decided to hand piece them (in progress).


Here is a picture of the blocks right now (the vertical center seam is still pinned). My question is this: have any of you had problems with trapezoids and triangles? What did you do to fix them?