laurilli, it looks like Bonnie has removed the Easy Angle and Companion Angle videos from her blog, I suppose because she is promoting her own tool, which I think it is called the Essential Triangle Tool. Maybe that would be the best one for you to buy, since she will be teaching how to use it during the mystery, and it does the same things as those other two. If you want to look into the Easy Angle and Companion Angle, I would suggest googling 'how to use easy angle ruler,' and I bet there will be YouTube videos showing how they work.

But as for why the videos on Bonnie's blog show black to you and aren't playable, I don't know what to suggest. Sometimes that happens to me at various websites, but I'm afraid I am also pretty clueless when it comes to computers!

I really like the peach and green combo the best.

I am one that doesn't use the specialty rulers. I have my 6 and 12 inch square up rulers, and my 24 x 5 for cutting lengths. I do have a 60' triangle b/c I use it alot. This year I was playing around w/ the dresdens in the Boom swap so I splurged and got a dresden ruler, but most of the time I just used my protractor and some freezer paper b/c the dresden only worked for the one angle (I can't remember which one I got maybe the 20 blade) but I wanted to make 10, 12, 16, 24 bladed dressies so that one ruler was useless for the other sizes.

As for the hst, I almost exclusively do the magic 8 and use my 6 inch square up ruler to trim the hst before it is pressed open, while it is still a triangle.

I'm keeping the browns and creams... it's the aqua and coral that say "Midwest" to me. Seems like most people love the color scheme, so consider me one of the oddballs... :D

As for the rulers, I'm not planning to buy any more. I bought the Easy Angle and Companion angle two mysteries ago, at Bonnie's urging (before she started selling her own rulers). She uses basic block units so I'm sure we can make them with what we have. I do find the Easy Angle ruler really useful and use it almost exclusively to cut HSTs. I was glad to learn from her how to use it.

I've never considered getting the paint chips. I pick browns I like, corals I like and aquas I like - and that look good together. They may or may not match Bonnie's colors, but I like the way the look together so that is what I go with.

If I were making blocks to swap with others, then I'd want to match more carefully.

Two mysterys ago I bought the EZ Angle and Companion Angle and use them a lot. The Essential Triangle ruler is both of these combined, since one has lines going one way and the other has the lines going the other way. These are all 45 degree angles. I bought rulers last year that were for a different angle - I think that is the Tri Rec set - like them too.

If the new ruler was for an angle I didn't already have rulers for, I'd be buying it. OK - if I had found it locally I'd probably have bought it, but don't feel like going to the trouble to order one.

I'm not crazy for the aqua/turquoise either. I am going to use light blue instead, and instead of the coral, I'm using a dirty, rusty pink. (That's the only way I can describe it!) And I love chocolate brown, so I'm keeping it.

With specialty rulers or w/ protractor and freezer paper the blocks I make for the Boom swaps are well constructed and correct in size, shape, and something I am proud to send.

It just goes to show that accuracy is what really counts. Rulers do make the job easier, but you always make such stunning results!

Thank you. I love the design process, figuring out the puzzle of how to make what I see in my head.