Using Your Ruler, Squaring Up a Block
As I just now finished squaring up my last and 72nd block for the current quilt I'm doing...ahhhh....done. I thought I'd ask everyone else how they square up their blocks and what kinds of tricks with their rulers do they use? I'm working on a, simple, old fashioned, log cabin quilt right now, so there's lots of seams and marks that I can line up my ruler with. I use every dot, dash, number, diagonal line, etc. that I can on my ruler. It amazes me how many marks there actually are.
For example, with the log cabin pattern, I do the following:
- Use a small, square ruler, which has all the marks I need, instead of a rectangular one.
- Run the diagonal line through the corners of the, "chimney."
- I can also measure the last couple of, "logs," and trim off at the 3/4" mark.
- I add white dots with my correction pen to the ruler at the most used marks to make things go faster.
Other things that I do when making a block are:
- "Split the difference" when something doesn't align properly.
- Finger press instead of using the iron to reduce distortion and save time.
I'm sure there are a lot of other small ideas out there that can make a big difference. What do you do?
~ Cindy