I'm not a gadget kind of Girl, as a matter of fact when I see these ruler displays at the store, I start to get overwhelmed. I mean really, how many rulers do you need! And these suckers aren't cheep either! Then I start looking at all the pretty fabric and before you know it I am done with the ruler section! As a matter of fact before yesterday I had just two rulers. But then I started having issues!
After 9 failed attempts at this block I knew I needed help. It didn't matter what I did to these blocks I could NOT get them to measure at the 9 1/2 inches when I was done. I tried shortening my stitch length cutting the starting blocks a bit larger nothing worked they were all 1/4 of an inch off! Now if this block was for me, I would say no problem. I would just cut them all down to a size that works and carry on with making my quilt. However these blocks are for a swap and I can't send " good enough" as they will be matching these blocks to their own.
So off to the local quilt shop and found that they had open sew on Thursdays. So I packed my stuff up and headed out. I was a bit apprehensive as I didn't actually "Know" anyone there. But I jumped in and asked for help. Jean took pity on a new quilter and helped so much! and she introduced me to the squaring ruler, and the seam check ruler.
I truly thought my seems were 1/4 ( that's what the darn machine said!) but they were much larger! and each time I turn my machine back on the needle moves! So I need to set it each time I sit down to sew. That little seam ruler went home with me that day!
And today I grabbed a squaring ruler. OH My Goodness. I knocked these two blocks out and they squared up PERFECT with this ruler. So while I'm still not a gadget girl, I do know the importance of using the right tool to get the job done correctly.
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