My Scraps and the Easy Angle Ruler

I have been working on getting all my scraps pressed, cut, and organized.  I have finally decided on these sizes:

2.5 inch strips (over 13 in long) and squares:

4.5 inch strips (at least 5.25 inches) and squares:

5 inch squares:

I had these scrapbooking boxes in my closet and they are perfect to store my scraps in:

This is how I used to store my scraps by color.  They may not look like they are getting empty, but most of the bins are at least half way.  I still have one bin of small strips for a string quilt that I might make someday under the table.  I hope to have this all cut up by the end of the year!

So I found this, this, and this pattern for using 4.5 inch HSTs and 4 patches.  I needed to find a way to use the scrap sizes that I was already cutting instead of adding another size.

This is the Easy Angle Ruler.  You may have heard about it from Bonnie Hunter.  It takes 4.5 inch strips and makes 4.5 in half square triangles (HST). 

 I tried it out to see how long a strip you would need to make 2 HSTs.  Start with 2 strips right side together. Line up the left side of the strip with the width of square you want.  4.5 inch will give you a 4 inch finished square.  Cut down the angle on the right side.

Flip the ruler over like this, line up on the 4.5 inch line again and cut down the right side.

Sew down the diagonal lines on both sets.

Press and trim the dog ears (there are only dog ears on 1 corner as opposed to 2 corners when made tradionally).

It took 5.25 inches to make both these HSTs.  No trimming down to size.  No waste.  Gotta love it. This ruler works on any size HST up to 6.5 inches.  But the 4.5 inch HST will pair nicely with a four patch made from 2.5 inch scraps.   

This quilt is one of my favorites I made from scraps.  It uses 4.5 inch and 2.5 inch blocks to make the 9 patches.  I also want to make this quilt that uses 4.5 inch blocks.  

Here is a rainbow quilt made from 2.5 inch squares. I love this one too! You can see the rest of my scrappy quilt inspiration on pinterest here.  There are several quilts that use 2.5 inch squares.  Maybe you'll see something you would like to make too!

Linking with Sarah