The 9.5" size (9" finished) makes perfect sense using the 3" kite ruler. The kite blocks in the corners get trimmed to 3.5" before you add them to the block. Take the 2.5 X 5" rectangles, place right sides together, draw a line from one corner to the opposite (like you were making HSTs). Sew on either side of the line, then cut on the line. Press and trim the 2 rectangles to 3.5" X 2" before snowballing the corners & adding to the block. When you trim, make sure that the seam goes corner to corner. This is where the ruler would pay for itself, as you would get perfectly trimmed patches.