How to use the "Fit to be Geese" Ruler for square-in-a-square blocks

Okay, so about 2 weeks ago, a good friend and I went to one of our favorite quilt shops for a few additions to our stashes, and while there we were introduced to the "Fit to be Geese" ruler. It's made by Open Gate Quilts.

We were admiring a square-in-a-square-in-a-square (yes, that many!) quilt top on their design wall and were marveling at how beautifully the blocks were pieced and how precise they were.  Every quilt we see in the shop is always that way!  So we commented on how accurate the piecing was, and the gal who was working said that all their piecing is done by making blocks bigger than necessary and then trimming them down.....often using this little goodie!

The ruler is designed to be used in making flying geese blocks, and there are instructions for that purpose that come with the ruler, but here is a tutorial on how to use them for square-in-a-square blocks!

This is the ruler:

Step 1 - Here are a 3 1/2" four-patch block and a 5" charm square:

Step 2 - Here are the same with the charm square diagonally cut into quarters:

Step 3 - Sew two quarter-square triangles onto the four-patch on opposite sides and press:

Step 4 - Sew the remaining two quarter-square triangles onto the remaining two sides and press:

Step 5 - Place the ruler with the black 90º angle lined up with one of the
90º angles on your block:

See how the top of the ruler makes a perfect 1/4" seam allowance?

Step 6 - Trim off the excess like this:

Step 7 - Turn the block and do the next side:

Step 8 - Continue around to do all 4 sides so it looks like this:

Voila!  A perfect square-in-a-square with proper seam allowances and no wonky parts!!

That was easy!

Happy Quilting!

This post was first seen on the Piecing the Past Quilts Blog

Easy-Peasy Pinwheel Quilt!

A few weeks ago I had some fun making these quilts for my grandkids.  They went together so easily and I just love how playful they are.

I made the pinwheels using Jenny Doan's method over at Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Here's a video you can view to see what I mean.  I don't think I'll make pinwheels any other way ever again!

So, for each quilt I used two 42-piece Lexington charm packs and had leftovers.

I  paired a light and a dark for each pinwheel and then scattered them on my design wall until a pleasing pattern emerged.

Once they were sewn together, I bordered them 3 times....
First with a 1/2" dark strip...
then a 2" light strip...
and finished with 6" outer borders set with 4 pinwheels for cornerstones.
(I made larger pinwheels out of yardage for the cornerstones so I'd have a bit bigger outer borders, but 5" would work, as well.)

There is no border length measurement greater than 43 1/2", so I was able to cut all of them from the width of the fabric, with a total of just over 1 yard!
Backing was about 2 3/4 yards.

I machine quilted it using a wavy line stitch on my faithful Bernina 730 (which I bought used in 1985 for more than the original owner paid for it!!), and had them done in under 2 weeks!

Here's the pertinent info:

Quilt Size:
45x55

Block Size:
About 5 1/2", finished

Set:
Straight
5x7

Border Sizes, finished:
Inner: 1/2"
Middle: 2"
Outer: 6"

MATERIALS:

Blocks:
2 charm packs

Borders:
4" of dark narrow inner border fabric
10" of light middle border fabric
24" of outer border fabric

Backing:
2 3/4 yard

Have fun and Happy Quilting!!