My current project is a theme quilt for my best friend. Although it might seem strange to some, she loves monster movies. Loves them so much that she and a group of friends (who also love monster movies) get together once a month for a girls night in. Popcorn is popped and a room of full grown women settles in to watch a chilling and scary flick.
I was inspired to take the Kaufman Monster Movie fabric, and fussy cut squares on point, and use set corner triangles to frame them for a block. Each block squares up to a nice 8.5 inches. My design includes alternating the monster blocks, with another block made up of two diagonally set 9 patch matched with to diagonally set half square triangle blocks. A problem arose for me (this would probably have been a no brainer for a more experienced quilter) was that a half square triangle block measuring 4.5 inches is easy to accomplish. Figuring out the piecing measurements to produce a 4.5 inch 9 patch was difficult for me.
I ended up figuring the measurement I needed each strip to be in 1/6's of an inch, converting that to millimeters, and then using a micrometer (that belonged to my father when he was alive) to draw out an exact strip template on paper. I made a few blocks and they were perfect 4.5 inch 9 patches. I was so happy! A delima arose, as the paper template was perfect, but now very necessary and oh so fragile. So hubby carefully took the paper template to a local plastics shop and had it copied into what is now my perfect 4.5 9patch ruler. This may not seem like a big deal to some, (sure I could have made them bigger then squared down) but I rather like it when the little blocks don't have to be squared down, for me it preserves the proportions of my little patches. I hope to post pics when the entire piece is done.