Saturday, December 10, 2011

My Favorite Ruler Works Overtime

I have found a new use for one of my favorite rulers. This ruler is from Guidelines http://www.guidelines4quilting.com/.  I really hate to plug merchants since I never receive any gratuity, but this is my second most favorite quilting tool.  I figured you would ask where to get it.  :D



Every 1/4 inch there is a groove. The yellow plastic strip can snap into any increment. It creates a ledge.You just tuck the ruler next to the edge of fabric. It stops at your selected measurement.










My first favorite tool, of course, is ElectricQuilt Software!  EQ has been top of my list for years. I doubt it will ever play second fiddle.    www.electricquilt.com

When I use the guidelines ruler,  I only have to look for the cutting line  ONCE.  Then I just scoot it to the edge of my folded fabric, and cut;  scoot and cut;   scoot and cut.   I especially like that it can guide your cuts to include 1/4 inch increments. 

Now on to my new use for this ruler. I was preparing a small quilt for using "self-faced" binding. I don't know if that is the correct term?  My piece is already quilted. I planned for the backing fabric to extend around to the front and serve as my binding.

I pinned the backing out of the way. I squared up and trimmed the top and batting even. Now I needed my backing to be trimmed even, with just enough to create a double-fold binding. This is where my guidelines ruler found a new use for me.




I set the yellow lever to 3/4 inch, scooted the lever against the trimmed edge of the quilt top and batting. This made it easy to get a nice edge to serve for the binding.








Now I just have to press the binding over once to meet the quilt edge; fold over again onto the quilt top and stitch down.


TA  DA !!    Here is my Christmas Rose Wreath table topper, all finished.  I see the markings from the Crayola washable markers ----  washed out!  Yea.


It is machine quilted with shiny gold rayon thread. I inserted a narrow gold flap between the background and the border.

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas with family and friends and remember the "reason for the season".... no shopping required.


5 comments:

  1. this is such a beautiful quilt! You have such a wonderful eye for detail and color!

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  2. Thank you so much! It was all scraps. If you put enough scraps together,they all work.

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  3. Thanks for the info on the ruler. I've never seen this particular one before. It looks like something I could use. Can anyone ever have enough rulers?
    The wreath looks wonderful. Your points always look so crisp.
    Sorry I did not reply to your comment on my blog for the giveaway. I have been having computer problems. Yesterday, Fedex brought my new laptop so I am trying desperately to catch up with everything. I'll draw the winners after church in the morning. Good luck!

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  4. That is fantastic! I have bookmarked the site for future use. However did you find such a great product? I have such a problem with cutting small QST, and this ruler is worth getting if only for this reason!
    So, if this is you second favorite what is you first favorite?

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  5. The information about this ruler was shared on my favorite yahoo group, Cyberquilters. This group is strickly quilting and specializes in sharing links to free patterns and other useful tips and helpful information for quilters. You can join the group thru this link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CyberQuilters/

    Oh, and my all time favorite quilting tool is and will always be Electric Quilt software.
    http://electricquilt.com/

    Merry Christmas!

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