Advent Calendar Days 4 and 5

Not much got done in the sewing room yesterday, or today either for that matter. I prefer a block of time to assemble a quilt back and get it loaded, and yesterday was not the day. Instead I contented myself working on the cup handles for my Cozy Cup mini. More about that in a minute.

Day 4's giftie was a two-ring binder with three dividers and some plastic sleeves for pattern storage. This pattern for a Disapparing Hourglass quilt was included, which begs the question, is there a layer cake somewhere else in the box? I hope!
 

For Day 5, there was a container of Quilting and Crafting Spray, which is like Best Press. Who can't use that? I can. And also some Iron Cleaner. Most people would probably use this, but maybe not me, I'll have to try it. Faultless Iron Cleaner works fine; but it got to be too expensive, and it's messy to use. Instead, I've been using Bounce fabric softener sheets They work splendidly, and there's no mess. If I get fusible on my iron, I run my iron over a Bounce sheet, placed on a paper towel, until it's clean, then iron onto a clean paper towel. I can use one Bounce sheet numerous times, which makes it cost effective.

Yesterday I put together the handles for all six cups in the mini quilt and two mug rugs, but only got one attached to a cup. 

There are tons of blocks nowadays that use the folded corner technique, from snowball blocks to picture blocks like Elizabeth Hartman's, where you place a square on the corner of one of your pieces, draw a diagonal line, sew on the line, and then trim the excess. My little cup blocks use this method as well. 

Even with the drawn line, my accuracy is still hit or miss. And truthfully, I don't want or need any more bonus triangles. And to me, this method is wasteful and more time consuming. And I hate drawing those lines. 

Enter the Folded Corners ruler from Doug Leko of Antler Quilt Design. Wish somebody had invented this 30 years ago. It's available in two sizes, but the mini seems to meet most of my needs.

In the photo above, I was supposed to cut a white one-inch square. So I placed my ruler on the fabric with the top edge of the ruler aligned with the top of my fabric, and the 1" line on the ruler aligned with the right edge of the fabric, and cut off that triangle. 

Next, I cut one 2" white square, cut in half diagonally. Oversizing it gives me the ability to square it up after I sew it on. It also gives me a little more fabric to start sewing on so the edge of my main piece doesn't get chewed up in the sewing machine. And I have another white triangle to use for another corner. Brilliant! Less waste and less time!

Doug Leko founded his business when he was just 14 years old. He's had designs published in several quilt magazines; written a number of booklets and patterns; and he must have gotten on the teaching circuit in his teens. He came to Maine Quilt for a presentation several years ago, and he might have been about 18.

And he came up with this fabulous ruler! A remarkable young man.