Square in a Square by Jodi Barrows

You can watch her videos at

and

I bought one of her books to do one of the projects in it but I ended up recreating the pattern in EQ6. I just didn't like the idea of all those bias edges when they weren't really necessary.

Laurie G. in CA

Hi Helen, I have the ruler and I have played with scraps to make portions of blocks. Beware of the number of bias edges that the methods produce if you have an aversion to working with bias. A straight-grain fabric strip will give a bias edge when trimmed and this is the method that all the options produce - for instance: the outside edges of the corner triangles in the square/square block or flying geese blocks will be bias. I haven't used the ruler to make a quilt top or portions of a quilt top so I can't comment on the stability of any of the blocks with handling over time. jennellh (change the mail to news)

That and the "waste" is the main thing stopping me from that technique. I also don't find making square in a square blocks that difficult.

Pati, > I bought one of her books to do one of the projects in it but I ended up

I watched the quilterstv one and am exhausted for the rest of the day!

Yep, the waste is an issue with me.

Although I do tend to cut most pieces a shade too big and trim for a nice clean edge for piecing the finished blocks (eg. for HSTs I round to the inch rather than using the

7/8inch rule), and I suppose that incurs some waste. But I do try to avoid bias on the outside edge of anything where I can.

This wouldn't address the waste issue, but cutting the added strips on the bias would leave the cut edges on the straight grain. . In message , CATS writes

I have the book and ruler. I find what I like it best for is making very small blocks. Using her technique I can make extremely small flying geese and other blocks that I would never attempt otherwise.

Sunny

For very small blocks, I would probably use foundation paper piecing. For all but the very smallest geese, I like the method Eleanor Burns and Mary Sue Suit use. Eleanor has a demo on her website: . She has some rulers that make it easier to trim some sizes, but you don't need the special rulers and the technique is applicable to any size geese. The demo shows how to trim without the special rulers, too. To do other sizes, cut a square of "geese" fabric 1" larger than the long side of the finished block. Cut a square of the "sky" fabric 1-1/2" larger than the square of "geese" fabric.

Julia > I have the book and ruler. I find what I like it best for is making

I agree Julia! I use this method almost exclusively for FG. I can make teeny tiny 1x2 FG with no problems. One note though, my calculations are 1 1/2 for the geese and 3" for the sky. So a 4x8 set would take 9½" & 11" squares. For the 1x2's, I use a 3½" & 5" squares. The other tip is that I trim the first set of blocks to make sure that the diagonal line is truly on the 45º angle. I trim for the angle, then cut off those little tips to make the blocks square. This helps to align the two squares.

Lorraine in WA

While I don't use the ruler much for its intended purpose, I find it invaluable when I need to establish an accurate 1/4" seam allowance on something like a flying geese block.

joan

You are right -- the "geese" square is 1-1/2" larger than the finished width of the block, and the "sky" square is 1-1/2" larger than the "geese" square or 3" larger than the finished width.

Julia > I agree Julia! I use this method almost exclusively for FG. I can make teeny

I made one quilt from her technique, and it worked quite well. The bias edges weren't really a problem, but I didn't really like wasting the amount of fabric that is necessary for the way she does it. I still have mixed feelings about her technique.

Thanks for all the input. I had wondered about the waste too but the method looked really easy. And being new, easy is for me! You guys are great.

I agree with other posts about the bias edges. The technique also wastes so much fabric. In this age of "greening of America" we should be promoting saving fabric by quilting not wasting fabric.

Susan

It really does waste fabric, unless you are a person like me and take all those nifty triangles and use them for something else.