Patience Corners has been around a very long time and there are many ways to make this block. Using the border method shown here, the blocks are cut into four and squared and then stitched together again. I am compulsive about squaring my quilt blocks and making sure that each block is exactly the same size before stitching into a quilt top. That top needs to be flat and square before it goes on my longarm.
Squaring blocks with a rotary cutter is tedious at best so I’ve been looking for a better way. And voila!– I found it with my AccuQuilt GO! square die. Because two sides of the block are perfectly squared already from the first cut, only two sides have to be straightened.
First I used a ruler and marked the 8 inch square die with Painter’s Tape. With the ruler laid exactly in place on the die, I placed the Painter’s tape straight along the edge of the ruler as shown. You can see that I have marked the die multiple times for other purposes too; but more recently have found that Painter’s tape is an excellent marker, does not affect the cutting, and removes quickly and easily.
After marking the die, the quilt block was split into four. You can see that the inner corners are perfectly squared already.
I took two corners of the block and stacked them matching the straight edges perfectly and laid them on the die. The straight edges are aligned with the Painter’s tape.
And notice that I’m using a very old mat but aligning it just with the outer edge of the fabric so I can get good use out of the good areas that are left on this mat.
And here it is after cutting with the AccuQuilt GO!
And I stack them and keep squaring until they’re all finished and ready to stitch.
Before beginning stitching, I take a different number of blocks from the top on three of the stacks and move them to the bottom so that each block has four different fabrics.
This really made quick work of squaring those blocks and made me sooooo happy.
Have a great day and do some happy stitching!
