HL - Rail Fence

Love the blues and whites in this top. But right now I'm posting this as a fail. More brains required.

So to start with, there is a body of 6" squares assembled in a 8x10 patch (Let's call this "body"). I've got strips that Hazel had assembled, waiting to be cut into blocks and put back together. And I've got scads of each of the colors, all stripped up, waiting to be joined. (We will call these "New").

Problem. The finished size (on average) of the body blocks is 6" x 6". The finished size of the new blocks is 5.5" x 5.5". I can't then just keep adding rounds to the existing body as they won't come together just right and it will end up looking like a monkey put it together.

Solution. (Maybe). I've found this green cherry blossom print that will wake this quilt up. My original intent was to use it for the borders. So what if I use it to build an interior border between the body and additional rounds of new blocks? That way they won't be butting against each other and I can make this a king size rather than couch size quilt. Sounds like a plan to me.

Measure carefully, pull out some excel skills to check my math and some graph paper to check my logic. Cut carefully. Sew carefully. Attach the first strip of new blocks. Curse madly when you realize you are a quarter inch short on the first border.

Fortunately, I have more of the cherry blossom fabric and there should be some assist tonight. I'm afraid I'm going to have to do this on the fly as I don't think the body is actually true.

Fingers crossed. Wish me luck. And if you have some advice (beyond the use of an adult beverage:)), please let me know.