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