I am a newbie quilter and I also have a pattern that calls for 7 inch blocks for 1/2 square triangles. I have a 6 1/2" square ruler but I never used it. How would you go about using it? Turns out that I cut out the 7 inch squares and sewed 1/4 in. on each side - ironed each square. One square came out 6 1/2" but the other one had to be trimmed to 6 1/2". The pattern is called Flying Geese. I thought you needed a special ruler to make Flying Geese triangles.