getting fussy tilts right

I'm not sure what the actual term is, but I have always had a hard time figuring out how to lay down my ruler when trimming blocks so that they "tilt" to one side or the other. I was working on my Beejeebers block for Lindsay and figured out a method that works great!

She picked out a very fun block - Polaroid Pictures - and wanted boy themed prints with Kona Coal background. I found enough prints by the skin of my pants (I'm not a fan of novelty prints!) and got to work. As I started to trim the blocks, I realized I needed to pay more attention to the way the block "tipped."

Let's keep those tilts orderly!

I spent a little time thinking about it and realized a very easy way to manage these tilts.

 First, I laid the block down in the position I wanted it to finish at. Here, you can see I want the right side of my mushroom to be "up" and the left to be "down."

 I then positioned my 5x5 ruler. I was cutting these to 4.5" square, so I noted where that line was as I laid out my ruler. I put the ruler down straight with the cutting mat. That is important because it will give you the right "tilt" when finished!

Trim the top and right side. If you are left handed, you might do this the other way around.

In this horrible picture, you can see I trimmed mine.

 Rotate the block around, align the ruler with the freshly cut edge, and trim the other two sides.

 Ta da! My block is trimmed and tipping the way I want it to. EXCELLENT.

Once you are done, you can trim all your blocks. Then they will look super nice once you get your block together!