Helpers

This is a 14" square piece of foam core that has a scrap of batting hot glued to it and then some left over binding hot glued in place as well.  This is what Lori Holt of Quilty Fun shows you how to make, and use, on a YouTube video.  It is the perfect tool for moving patchwork pieces from cutting mat to ironing board to sewing machine. The texture of the batting keeps the pieces in place, making it harder, but not impossible, to lose a wee piece in the fourteen steps from iron to sewing machine.

And this is a sandpaper board.  The pieces do not move as you are marking your line.  I had it on my lap while I was watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.  Fabulous!  And the Palomino Blackwing pencil also proved perfect for the job.  I think the lead or graphite is just a bit softer than a regular #2 pencil and that adds to the ease in getting a good diagonal sewing line drawn.

(Thirty two 1 1/2" squares and thirty two 1 1/4" squares needed diagonal lines. Small squares.)