All excellent ideas. The smaller your blocks and the more seams in it, the greater chance to come up "short". If the "experts" at quilting saw how sloppy some of my techniques are--gasp!! Sometimes I use the markings on the well-worn mat, sometimes I use a ruler and I have 3. But excellent idea to use the same method/ruler throughout your project. I even use bobbin thread on the big spool that JoAnn's has on sale--good price/lots of thread. But it's skinny so it presses down well. One thing that hasn't been mentioned--I use the foot like Dina has. If I'm looking for a scant 1/4" seam, which you will probably want if the block has a lot of seams, try moving your needle one tip to the right. With mine, there is room to do that without the needle hitting the foot and I get better results. I hope your machine has that feature on it. It has been a big help to me.