I my last post, I talked about having “extra” half-square triangles when I made the flying geese blocks. Now I needed to trim them down to a usable size….what will I use them for….who knows!!!

Some weeks ago, I read a blog post that was talking about different ways to make HST’s and it talked about using a Bloc-Loc ruler…..

It sounded interesting (and satisfied my desire to try new techniques) so I purchased one and gave it a trial run with these “bonus” patches.

The “ditch” that runs down the diagonal of the ruler provides a “ledge” that can be lined up with the diagonal of the block, making it VERY easy to trim blocks down to size.

The first step was to decide on the optimal size of these patches and decided to cut them to 2 inches, making a 1.5 inch finished HST.

I lined the ledge up against the diagonal seam……

…..and trimmed the first two sides……

In this photo, it looks as if the right edge isn’t flush with the ruler but that is a photographic anomaly!!

*****Note that the ledge side of the ruler must be opposite to the side where the seam allowance resides. From what I have read, it will not work well when seams are pressed open.

Next, I flipped the block around to trim the other two sides, but quickly discovered that the ruler also had to be flipped so that the ledge would butt up against the diagonal seam.

I lined up the 2 inch marks on the already trimmed edges……

The final step was to trim the last two sides…..

….leaving a perfect 2 inch square!!

Since the ruler has to be flipped, I think that it will be faster to trim one side of a group of squares all at the same time, then flip everything to trim the other two sides……

I am intrigued with this ruler and look forward to using it in the future!!!!