Good points, Kalama. I think the consistency one is huge. I prefer to have the lighter fabrics on top, it works better with my vision issues and you can see that I drew my lines on the lighter fabrics, I was going to point that out to people not used to working with scraps -- sometimes it is the easy hints we miss! I showed the cuts on the seams with the backsides because the contrast was better, but I only draw one line on the lighter fabric. I do it while cutting and counting and don't find it a bad step, I have a pad of paper and a pencil next to my cutting pad, take it off the cutting pad, put it on the pad, position the ruler, zip the line, and stack the block. Again, I love my 1/4" quilter foot, I wouldn't want to draw all three lines.

I do most of my marking with a basic No. 2 school pencil, I find it shows up well with most fabric. I also have white pencils that I use a lot for dark fabrics.

This last year I started to have real problems working with black fabrics that I never had before, couldn't see them together (part of my problems are that I have no depth perception, part is I can't focus down far enough any more -- readers mostly make blurry stuff bigger and not clearer), had problems reading the rulers, all sorts of issues... Nature of a progressive condition I guess. I need to find some ways to help me work with it a bit better or maybe I can still get away with navy or gray as a dark neutral.

I very seldom work with black because of my vision issues, I hear you IceBlossom. I used your method of 1/2 squares for many many years. They all work. I also go against the stream and run my points through first, I'm far less likely to get the 'veer' I get when running them through last.

Quilting Lawyer, I'm loving all the purples I'm seeing come up this year. We might get slammed with a biggie...you never know, it's a mystery :)

In some ways, quilters today have it so good with classes and tv and youtube! I started quilting just before the rotary revolution and so learned the how-to's to go along with my basic geometry knowledge, but you can bet I watched Sewing with Nancy to learn the latest stuff!

I've gotten rid of a lot of my quilt books, but one I kept and highly recommend as a reference book on things like different ways to make triangles or other ways to cut with rulers is Template-Free Quiltmaking by Trudie Hughes. Clear directions, helpful charts. I think she was the first or at least one of the first with "Around the Twist" and "Lover's Knot" which are in that book but there were other versions by other designers about that same time that are probably better known.
https://www.amazon.com/Template-Free.../dp/0943574374

I use the 'Creative grid' rulers with my eye problems. Also have an 18 inch x 6 inches with a 'lip' on the end that helps to rotor cut the fabric. I learned with Eleanor Burns, so my HST are the strip method. Yes, the first 3 clues are easy, so I am thinking it will get harder clues before we finish in January. I did reorder Bonnie Hunter's rulers she recommends and her string ? book too. Love doing the HST block, and will have time in the next week to finish them.

Four inches of snow on the ground, so its sew snow time in the quilt room. So nice to see everyone's progress on the clues, and the colors they are using. Lovely start! And great looking quilts will follow I am sure.

"I’m really hoping the next clue is time consuming" by Quilting Lawyer.

I am hoping so also, Quilting Lawyer. I remember in the past, she gave Christmas week off to let everyone "catch up". It was a bummer with all that free time after Christmas. I have another project ready to go in case she does the same this year. I have all my scrappy HST's ready. I went multi colors and neutrals. With the simple components, of 4 squares and hst's I can make lots of patterns if her pattern doesn't work with totally scrappy.

I also ordered the Easy Angle ruler from Bonnie when I started this project. I had been satisfied with my tried and true method of cutting squares, drawing a line, cutting, pressing but was up for learning something new. Bonnie has a video on her blog showing how to use the Easy Angle that is very helpful. I love this method! So easy to use! I'm a convert to this method for sure.

Thanks for the link. I have seen it before but never gave it a try. Why wait? Now is the time.

I'm a math nerd and I enjoy a good challenge, and here is what I came up with. (Instructions are written for a right handed person.)

1) Cut a strip of fabric or paper 9 mm wide. This is what you will use to mark the "extra" bit that gets added to turn your triangle into a trapezoid. (The number comes from the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle where the short sides are both 0.25" long.) Use a color that will contrast with both your triangle fabric and your cutting mat.

2) Cut one (or more) strip of fabric your desired width. (In the video, Bonnie Hunter says add 1/2" to the desired finished size of your HST.)

3) Place the fabric strip(s) (step 2) on your cutting mat and place the marking strip (step 1) carefully over the very left end of it. Use your ruler to cut from the top of the right side of the marking strip diagonally down to the bottom of the strip.

Here is a diagram of how to line up a triangle ruler or a rectangular ruler. The black rectangle is fabric. The red rectangle is the marking strip. The blue shape is the ruler. The rectangular ruler includes a thin blue line showing where the 45 degree line is marked on the ruler. (I drew it like my ruler, where the 45 degree line starts (0.5") above the bottom of the ruler.) The diagram shows the fabric rectangles extending slightly to the left of the marking rectangles - I drew it that way just for clarity; in real life the edges should be lined up exactly on top of them.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]620978[/ATTACH]

4) Place the marking strip just below the strip to mark the extra bit needed on the next trapezoid and then use a rectangular ruler to cut that line. (Match up a line on the ruler with the top of the edge of the strip to make sure the ruler is straight.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]620979[/ATTACH]
In her video, Bonnie shows how to sew with the fabric in the trapezoid shape. After sewing it, you would need to trim off dog ears at one end of the HST. This video (starting at about 6 minutes in) shows using the Easy Angle ruler to trim the other end of trapezoid before sewing. If you want that extra bit of trimming do step 6.

6) Place the marking strip along the side of the trapezoid with the untrimmed corner so that the corner of it just barely touches the diagonal cut. Use your rectangular ruler cut along the edge of the marking strip.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]620981[/ATTACH]

I think this should work, but you should test this out with just a few cuts and see how it turns out. Depending on exactly how you are lining things up when you cut, you may need to adjust the width of the marking strip a bit. Bonnie Hunter notes that you may need to adjust the width of your seam allowance a little bit to get the exact finished size correct.

It was fun to figure this out, but I think I will stick to the eight at a time method of mass producing HSTs.

If you do try this out, I'd be interested to whether or not it worked well for you.

I turned the first corner of my binding today, and cleaned up the two weeks of mail that had accumulated on the dining room table while I had the sinus infection, as well as the chaos in the kitchen. I hope to get back into the sewing room tomorrow to press some wing units from Orca Bay (made a few years ago, and boy are they a mess; I hope I'm able to use them because I don't have any of that fabric left; I used the leftovers in stash projects -- maybe not the best move).

I used the method that Queenbarbiej gave us. They went really fast! I only have 36 more units and I'll get them done in the morning.