Shayarene, welcome to quilting, but be warned, it is addictive and you could suffer from quilt pox, no cure known. LOL. Just kidding. On the half square triangle there are lots of ways to do a short cut. If you go to Missouri Star Quilt Co, Ginny has some neat ways to do half square triangles. You could also do a google search and probably find a video on making them on u tube.. Best of luck to you.