It is so gracious of everyone who's advice is so helpful. The people on this board all want to help any way they can. I know it is appreciated so much! :)

Here's a cheap and easy way to mark 1/4" on your machine without purchasing anything expensive. Find the exact spot on your machine base where you are able to sew an "exact" 1/4". Place a stack (5-6) of sticky notes with the glued side on the 1/4" spot. Allow your fabric to touch, the word here is touch, the stack of sticky notes as you sew your seam. This should help a lot. Maybe mark that spot with a permanent marker so if you stickies come off you can add more. Good luck!

as a newbie I just figure that if its 15/16 of an inch or 1 inch and they are all the same it doesnt really matter. I square up my blocks before sewing them together so if my finished quilt is 43 1/3 inches instead of 44 inches, who cares?

You are correct AS LONG AS there are no points to worry about. Any time you deal with points (HSTs, Flying Geese, etc) and those points have to match, it gets a bit tougher. Those seam allowances do make a difference and if you don't follow the 1/4" guidelines you most likely cut off your points.

Margie, this is the best tip ever! I already had the tape on the machine but realized that i was looking at the needle. I concentrated on looking only at the tape today. My seams were great and all the blocks fit togeter and lined up perfectly! I had a wonderful sewing day! It's like typing..i can't type if i look at the keyboard. Thank you!

I took a class in rotary cutting...learned a lot about cutting properly...like using the markings on the ruler not on the mat. In fact, she made us turn our mats over to the blank side. The quarter inch seam must be gauged by the thread, needle, foot of your machine. Figure out where that is and mark it or something. Pressing can cause things to be wacky. Place the iron down on the fabric...don't rub it on the fabric. Use starch. (I prewash and starch fabric before I even cut on it.) I found that true-ing up my block sections as I went help tremendously. When making HST's I always cut my blocks 1/2 in larger than the finished size of my blocks....5 in for finished 4 1/2 blocks. True them up using the diagonal marking on the ruler. They make squaring up rules as well to assist if you wish to purchase one. All that being said....it takes lots of experience to be great at it!!

Another tip that helps to keep the seam straight is to use 1/4" masking tape to make a "wall" on your face plate that the fabric can ride up against to ensure that the fabric doesn't wiggle after it leaves the presser foot. You can also use moleskin (used for shoes) or there are attachments now for the newer machines to do the same thing as the masking tape. Hope this helps.

Make sure that you are staying 1/4" all the way off the end of fabric. I notice sometimes when I get going and don't pay attention I tend to wander at the end. If you really need some in depth guidelines ~ Look for a book by Sally Collins called Precision Piecing.