I chuckled when I read your posting - as a new quilter, one of my first attempts was a log cabin block because I had read it was good for beginners. Well, my first block was more of a parallelogram than a square! I showed it to the ladies at my LQS and they suggested trying the Creative Grids log cabin ruler. I was so amazed by how perfectly the block came out with that ruler that I drove the 60 mile round trip back to the LQS just to show them the block.