Jobs

*Slamming the door* Good riddance 2009.

DH swears I'm psychic since I just "know" things before they happen. I usually know it first and then when I tell him, he'll sense it too. This time both of our sensors went off at the same time. They've been buzzing for about 2 mos now non-stop about him not having a job for much longer and now the sensor says the job is ending SOON.

DH did have an interview last Tuesday. I went with him and read my book in the lobby. While I was reading, I kept thinking, "The job isn't here. If he has it, it's not here. But this is where their office is so that doesn't make sense." Confused, I kept reading until he was done. I kept feeling like he had the job, but it wasn't here.

He started talking about the interview on the way to the car and talked about the job location. I blurted out that it wasn't here. His jaw dropped and he said, "How did you know that?"

I just said it was my "psychic powers" and laughed.

He then said the job was located somewhere else and we kept talking about the interview.

The scary part is we both "feel" it's right, but have no proof. If he gets it, the training part starts on Feb 15. That's SOON. They said they'd call within a week or so.

Just keep us in your prayers. If it's not this job, that's okay. I just know SOON is coming very soon.

At the same time it's given us a great sense of peace knowing that he won't be working at the prison and this unknown job will work out for our family. That part I do know.

Who Done It? A Rotary Blade Mystery

I discovered that my 45mm blade was extremely dull while trying to cut strips yesterday. Now I KNOW I didn't do this. I'm rough on blades, but it didn't go from fairly sharp to not cutting fabric at all in one day. Someone has been using it and there will be a swift and unjust punishment coming to that person.

DH usually is the culprit. He loves my rotary cutter for cutting down inserts for DVDs or music CDs. He knows where it is but he's been sleeping. That leaves one of 3 kids. The thought of my kids using a rotary cutter unsupervised makes me sick. These things are not for kids. One slip and your fingers are gone.

Well, no one has come to me with blood gushing out and there isn't any on the table so I can't check hands for evidence. That resorts to lining them all up for interrogation until someone confesses.

Surprisingly, no interrogation needed. My son immediately claims that he did it. He has these little finger skateboards called Tech Decks and he'd used my cutter to put better griptape on them. Griptape is like thick sandpaper with sticky backing that is on the front of your skateboard. He'd cut the tape up to fit it to the boards. That would dull the blade in no time.

I'm just grateful he didn't slice his hands open. He now owes me a blade and he spent the afternoon cleaning.

Please keep your cutters out of reach of kids. My son is 13 going on "I know it all" which makes it even harder for him to realize that it's not safe without me being there. Yeah, I panic, but I've seen what these cutters can do. I don't even like DH using them and he's 41.

Bills, Bills, And Attila The Bun

I finished up 200 nine patches today! Woo Hoo!

Next time I decide to take the plumber's advice to get the tub caulked, I'LL strip off the old cauking and let him do the rest. He charged me 2 hours of work at 60 dollars an hour. Dang. Wish I could charge 60 bucks an hour. He did a great job. I just didn't know it would come at a premium price. I would have done it myself, but he was already undoing my previous job from a couple of years ago and it wasn't that great.

I feel like telling him that he'll get paid sometime next year since I still have car tags to pay for with this upcoming check. Get in line behind the 300 dollar car tags since NE charges your car as property tax. December is a money sucking month at this house. Think I can get the car tag date changed to another month?

Attila has chewed through my cell phone charger and seems to think nipping everyone is the highlight of her day. DH and the kids are really frustrated with her because of it. I keep telling everyone that she doesn't really like to be held. Just put her down and let her come to you. She's only been here a week and is getting used to things. She isn't biting. Just nippy. She isn't a cat or dog. She's a rabbit. If DH wanted something that would sit in your lap and let you pet it, he should have gotten a cat or a dog.

I figure she might end up being mine despite DH wanting her. She's really a sweetheart. She does flips in the air and loves running in circles around her cardboard box. She runs through the box and pops her head out through the 4 open sides. I haven't figured out any favorite toys yet. I just sit on the floor and let her check me out at her leisure. I get nipped too and have a couple of bruises to prove it.

All things considered she's doing extremely well. She's curious as can be and really loves people. She just doesn't like being held.

I secretly call her Attila when she's being a sweet pain. Her name is really Lacey.

Christmas Is BACK!

Well, I think celebrating Festivus helped. I feel MUCH better.

Thanks to a blizzard I've had DH home since Wednesday. Normally he'd be working Christmas Eve and today. It's been really nice having an unexepected break. The roads were closed today due to high winds and blowing snow from yesterday and today. There are 3-4 feet drifts all around my house. I had to dig myself out of a 4 foot drift to get to the garbage cans.

I helped DH dig out the driveway to go to a friend's house for an unexpected Christmas dinner. We had a wonderful time talking, a food fight, and watching "District 9".

The kids loved their presents and thought having a small Christmas with a few gifts was the best way to celebrate. My son has been down in the basement with his skateboard attempting tricks and my daughters have loved their new "hoodies".

I got an unexpected gift from DH's aunt and uncle as well. A beautiful applique kit from Nancy Chong!

I have never done one of her patterns but have always wanted too. Even the border is appliqued. You don't cut out the pieces either. You cut-away as you go. I have her DVD on hand applique and it's worth every penny. I can't wait to get started. The question now becomes to hand applique or not to hand applique?

And as a silly gift, DH got me a Webkinz Llama. Her name is Dolly. Go ahead and snicker. My daughter has her uploaded onto her account and will enjoy playing online.

Move over Festivus Pole. Christmas is back.

Festivus For The Rest Of Us

According to Wikipedia I'm a day late but as of right now I'm celebrating Festivus. This year has sucked and DH's rabbit will probably die as she ate some yarn yesterday. I'd LOVE to air my grievances but they truly don't belong here and that pole needs to be swung at some much hated people in my life.

If you are having a wonderful Christmas, enjoy it. I'm happy for you. For those of us that are having a crappy one there's Festivus for the rest of us.

Dovo Scissors

Ohh...Kelly Jackson over at I Have A Notion has Dovo scissors for sale. *Wipes the homerdrool off the computer *

I lost my pair several years ago and have mourned them since then. I just haven't been able to convince myself to pay so much for a pair of scissors. Mostly because I'm terrified of losing them like I did the last pair. I also don't remember what size I had or what they looked like as I've seen several kinds. Mine had a satin finish. That's all I remember and I can't look at a pair in person. Ordering them online scares me. The pair she has now look absolutely beautiful and I'm so tempted but if I lose them I'll throw up for days.

I only have a zillion pairs of scissors. Mostly the crappy Ginghers that should be melted down for scrap metal because they dull so fast and have no durability. I love my KAI scissors but I have never gotten over the loss of my Dovo pair.

Santa...maybe I do want a pair..or two of Dovo scissors. Gulp...but that's SO much money. But Santa was willing to spend 50 for that light. Maybe he's willing to do a bit more for the scissors.

Why is it I can easily spoil DH by taking him to get a rabbit yet can't justify spending money on a pair of scissors for myself? Speaking of rabbits, "Trouble" seems to be settling in well except for the nipping. She's not really biting, but will nibble on your arm just enough for you to go "ouch!" She's not terrified of the kids and is happy to do some simple exploring. She loves boxes and sticking her head in and out of them. She hasn't peed on anything yet either.

Still no name for "Trouble" though. Nothing seems right.

Two Couch Potatoes

Meet Trouble, DH's Christmas Easter rabbit. Too bad she doesn't lay Cadbury Eggs. I can't call her Stew since she's not an outside rabbit and DH hasn't given her a name yet. If she tries to eat my sewing machine cords, she'll be a fried rabbit. I'll need to rabbit proof the cords ASAP so that doesn't happen. Need to rabbit proof the house as well.

So far she's been pretty good but that could easily change. She hasn't peed on anyone. She hasn't figured out that the TV stand is hollow underneath nor has she disovered that her back legs are really powerful for kicking people in the stomach. She hasn't jumped off DH's lap in terror taking off into unknown hiding spots that I didn't know existed.

She's pretty laid back for being here for part of the afternoon. She's been watching TV with DH while checking out the toys in his lap. She loves her cage and has made herself at home in it. Hopefully we can get her litterbox trained making it easy to give her some more room around the house.

Now I have TWO couch potatoes and one very, very excited DH.

Any ideas for a name for Trouble?

Nine-Patches And Skateboards

I finally laid out some of my 9-patches on my white fabric to see what it looked like:

From Quilted with Love

Keep in mind these are 2 inch 9-patch squares as it's hard to tell from the picture. They will be 1.5 inch finished ones. The pattern has them set on point like the picture. They chose a different print for the center, but I haven't found one yet. I thought about embroidering a small motif to make a pattern and quilt the center cream blocks once I got the top done.

I'm at 150 blocks right now and slowly working up there.

DH also said he'd get me the fabric roll on the "Dear Santa" post. I really wanted fat quarters of them, but apparently they only come that way even from the company. It doesn't list the individual fabric colors or if it's a special fabric line either to make up a yardage package for DH to order.

I have all my kids taken care of for Christmas. My son has his skateboard now. He and the shop custom built one yesterday. He doesn't get it until Christmas and can't show his friends like he thought he was going too. Sorry, it's a Christmas present. I just needed him to pick it out. This is his first "real" board.

I probably drove the kid nuts asking all kinds of questions. As a quilter, I understand quality and needing the right equipment to do something. I just wanted to make sure my son was getting something he wanted and would work for his needs and not just because it looked cool. They kid was really great and explained everything. He's worked with parents before..LOL.

It helped to see shoes/clothes and accessories in person and not online. They do have a purpose and not always just to look cool.

I couldn't resist. I tried it out after the kids were gone last night. I played with it in the hallway since I know my balance is really bad. I tried a few tricks and realized that it was a really nice board. He will love it.

Questions On The Bendable LED Light

I was at my LQS getting some more purple fat quarters for my quilt today when saw that she had a package of one of those bendable lights that you put on your machine. I picked it up and asked if she had tried it and she said she had one on her machine. Most of you know I'm a skeptic and 50 bucks is a HUGE price tag for such a little light.

She took me over, turned on the machine and light and showed me out it worked. Okay, it's truly bendable and you just put it on the machine. You just plug it in and it works. The light is bright. OH yeah..that light is so bright it's blinding. I lost vision for a few seconds as my eyes adjusted to it.

Now it's down to two things. The light and the price. Is the light so bright it's going to drive me nuts, leave shadows all over making it even harder to do work despite my adjusting it? And I still think 50 bucks is way too much. It's not like I can open it up, try it out, go ehhh..and bring it back for a refund.

If you have one could you answer me these? Is it that blinding when you use it? Does it leave shadows? Are you constantly adjusting it? Is it worth 50 bucks? Oh..wait. Will it the adhesive ruin your machine?

Allbrands does sell it for 30 bucks and even with shipping it's cheaper.

Earthquake???

Wow. Never thought I'd see the day when NE would have a 3.5 earthquake and having the epicenter a couple of miles up the road.

I was talking to DH in the bathroom while he was getting ready for work when the entire room started rumbling really funny for a few seconds and pretty good too. Truthfully; I was too shocked to really figure out what was going on. I thought my water pipes in the basement had burst and ran downstairs to check. I have the plumber coming over tomorrow or Friday as I do have a leak. I had visions of the leak suddenly blowing causing my house to shake.

Then it hit me. It was an earthquake. My neighbor called up frantic wanting to know if my house had just shaken and I told her yes.

I checked the USGS website and it did have a 3.5 on the map. Wow.

Everything is fine. Maybe my post to Santa was read and he was letting me know I wasn't done confessing my quilting sins to get a present from the Fat Quarter Shop.

Thinking About School

Now I remember why I haven't finished college.

It's overpriced, leaves you with indebted for life and still leaves you underexperienced for a job. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Frerichs. We want 4-6 years of experience with that degree only to pay you 10 bucks an hour."

Why do I bring this up? I was going through the International Quilt Study Center & Museum's website and thought it would be cool to do some seminars or something like that. I had actually downloaded some podcast and a video earlier and loved them and was trying to to find the page again. I found myself drooling at some of the classes being offered. The catch? You have to be far more educated than I am at the moment.

Why not look into going back to school? You aren't stupid. You did high school and college at the same time your senior year of high school. You took hard classes and still did good. You got a B out of an architecture course that started out with 50 and by the end was down to 12 of us. Not bad for being 17. You took 2 courses of Arabic and an English course as well. You even held down jobs while doing this.

Okay..you failed Basic Algebra but only because your TA couldn't speak any English. Your Geography TA couldn't either do much better. You got a A on your Basic Engineering Drawing class though.

I go online to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln site and find myself overwhelmed with useless crap. All I want is the basic information and I shouldn't have dig for it on the first page. Finally find it and sort of get all the fees but it doesn't tell me anything else. I'm sure I'm supposed to talk with an Advisor who will eventually screw up my courses and "plan my future". Nor did I find much about what is offered online. Guess I need to wait until it's closer to summer? Maybe online classes are a joke and same with all of this education crap.

Okay. I admit it. I'm petrified of school. 13 years ago my entire life crashed in front of me when I was diagnosed with epilepsy and a few months later with bipolar and I'm still picking up the pieces. I was manic during high school/college and that's how I pulled a lot of that off. I didn't need sleep for days. I could do 3 jobs, go to school and do all the homework. I was high on manic episodes. I'd crash, but never long enough for it to matter.

Now the bipolar does matter and that's the scary part. Medications help but dull everything. My memory is awful because of it. The same flaws that boosted me years ago can easily send my spiraling downward into the ground and ruin everything. Manic episodes now are not good and neither is the depression. The thought of wasting money because I suddenly spiraled out of control and crashed into the ground is terribly frightening.

At the same time, it's so frustrating having a great mind and feeling like you don't really get to use it. I know I can't do school full-time. I'm not even sure part-time without causing some bipolar issues to rear it's ugly head.

And I don't do "revenue creation" courses.

Outrageous Christmas Presents

I had a wonderful talk with my brother-in-law yesterday on Facebook. Sometimes I think that's the only way some of us are able to communicate with our busy lives. We got talking about Christmas presents and what we wanted. He brought up something I hadn't thought of. Usually we are so busy thinking of everyone else we forget about ourselves and what we want. So, we started talking about what we wanted..no price limits. Soon we were laughing about our outrageous wants and I felt SO much better about Christmas.

He wanted a giant TV with all the trimmings and a video game console with all the games. A fence for their horse of a German Shepherd. Furniture. Stuff for my sister. Apparently, guys don't need much.

My list was longer and far more elaborate. It's a girl thing, you know.

*A longarm machine with the room to put it in.

*New furniture that DH and I picked out. Mine is from in-laws and is at least 15 years old.

*New carpet. With 3 young kids it's a mess.

*A Mini..British Racing Green imported from UK. Okay..US one will work. Yeah, it's Semi-Truck bait, but DH's mom used to rally race them and I've always wanted one.

*Money for one of those super retreats for quilting with the professionals.

*A St. Bernard. I had one as a kid and he was so sweet.

*My thousand dollar laptop with Blu-ray player.

*A cutting table that is adjustable for my height.

*One of those KitchenAid mixers. I do cook/bake occasionally.

*A pet rabbit for DH. He LOVES rabbits. There is a wild one that lives under our deck that he's claimed. I feel kind of bad for Stew as he's running out of rose leaves to eat. Can you feed rabbit food to wild rabbits when it snows and food is harder to find? Once the snow melts, he should be okay for food.

*Boots. I LOVE boots but they are so expensive. A brown leather pair would do nicely.

*Horse riding lessons. I've been on a horse once. I was 10 and it was a Clydesdale.

*Going to England for Christmas to visit DH's uncle. That would be the best Christmas present ever. Forget about the above things if this could be possible. Or have him come here. (Just make sure to have him bring the Mini or I come back with one.)

*A year's supply of English candy shipped from England. If it's already in the US it's stale. I should email DH's uncle and ask for a small package.

Once I get the kids taken care of on Wednesday, I'll see what's leftover for DH and I. My BIL is right, it's okay to think of ourselves too.

Making Shortbread And 9-Patches

Oh yeah..I can bake! I made my first ever batch of shortbread cookies today courtesy of a recipe I found on another quilter's site called Esther's Blog. Her recipe seemed simple enough that I figured I couldn't possibly screw it up.

I came out with far less than it looked like on her pictures though. When I did the oven conversion it came close to 350 and went with that. It took a lot longer to bake so I know I screwed up something. I probably made them too thick. My family inhaled them regardless and they had the texture/taste of shortbread and that's all that counts.

She has some fabulous quilts that I've drooled over as well.

I have done 12o 9-patches now! 1320 left to do! I'm wondering if I should add green fabric with the purple fabric. It would also help use up my stash. I worry about being sick of purple in a few more weeks.

It also hit me that my dad turned 60 today. I can't believe my dad is old. I know 60 isn't old, old, but still. I love him so much.

It's Snowing!!!

I used my desperation for wanting to go into debt for Disney Steelbooks yesterday to make these:

From Quilted with Love

Not all of them were done yesterday. The top 6 were done last week. But I got 40 done. Okay 30 need to be trimmed, but they are sewn up.

I cut out more strips to be sewn today since I won't be going anywhere anytime soon:

From Quilted with Love

From Quilted with Love

DH is NOT going to work tonight as blizzard conditions are supposed to set in with high winds and there is talk of the highways closing down.

If you are having nasty weather or going to get this storm, PLEASE be safe. Just stay home and use this as an excuse to quilt away. Stock up on supplies (not quilt ones) so you won't be stuck either.

How Do You Make Your Bed?

I can't whine to much now since we got SNOW!!!!

I happen to like snow and after being cranky for a couple of days it was nice gift from above. We might even get more!!


DH decided he wanted our Christmas quilt on the bed and got it out. I came in later and discovered this:

From Quilted with Love

It's soo funny I can't undo it especially since I know how hard he tried to put it on. It's between queen and king size and a pain to put on a bed as it's also heavy. He probably got frustrated and just dumped it on that way after a few minutes.

I made this quilt years ago when the pattern first came out. It's my favorite Christmas quilt and I loved putting it together.

Getting Through The Christmas Phases

During church today I realized another reason why I hate this time of the year. All the demands of cookie and gift exchanges, white elephant parties and places I don't want to go or be at. Once I get over the "envies" then I hit the "Say No" phase of Christmas.

It hit me after church that my family's income has decreased by 80 dollars every month now thanks to that water bill hike. I can't do all of these things. A 5.00 gift exchange is equal to almost 2 gallons of milk. 5.00 is gas to make it to work. Showing up to church or other activities is extra gas I don't have. And to be at these activities is just a reminder that I can't meet those demands right now.

I think once I get over the "Say No" phase, I'll start enjoying Christmas more. My son really wants a skateboard for Christmas. I'm hoping with the next paycheck we can do this. If we can't, it just means saving up with another paycheck and he'll get it after Christmas.

We are doing good. It just means things are that much tighter and it takes more planning. I probably shouldn't have bought garland and bows for the front porch but everything was 50% off and when I did the numbers, it would work. That's as fancy as our decorations will go this year.

I started thinking about getting a seasonal part-time job today. I've done retail before. It's not hard. Just demanding. The only problem is that most places want the evening shifts which means you don't get out until late and DH needs the car to go to work. If the store closes at 9 pm, it's after 11 before you get out. Maybe later. My kids would kill each other all by themselves as well. I'll keep thinking about it.

I feel better venting. I do enjoy Christmas. This year is just going to be rough.

Decorating For Christmas..In Farm Town

It's nearly 2am and I should be in bed. Except I can't sleep. What have I been doing? Sigh. If I can't have a fancy Christmas in real life, might as well do it in Farm Town. I've been at this for hours and not even close to being finished. I had to take out my formal English garden one piece/flower at a time to redo my entire farm. Stupid addicting game. Unlike quilting, I have no decoration sense and I find it intensely frustrating.

Some good news is that DH found out the State of Nebraska is not laying off in the corrections dept. Since they aren't hiring either, he's thinking they really won't want to fire people because of some crazy mandatory rules. I won't even go there.

I put up our small fiber optic Christmas tree and put garland around the front porch with bows on the ends. My MIL made an advent calendar for DH when he was little and 35 years later it's still being used. It's a little worn out, but it only gets used one month a year and then carefully wrapped up again.

From Quilted with Love

The only thing I hate about Christmas is that I have to get over the "envies". It takes a few days to a week and then generally I do good. The "envies" is seeing everyone with beautiful trees in their picture windows glowing merrily along and wishing I could strangle ours with the fiber optic strands. Or seeing the fancy decorations in the stores and wishing my house was even remotely big enough to have them and that I could afford what I liked. My house IS really small.

This year I've wanted a real Christmas tree and have had to fight back the "envies" especially hard. DH can't stand the smell of pine candles so I can't even get a "high" off of that.

I'll be okay in a few days to the end of the week. And it's not the bitter/angry kind of envy, just frustrating kind.

This was my purchase today:

From Quilted with Love

Stash Busting

I decided to speed up the 9-patch process now that I have things figured out. I also needed to move faster since I counted out 47 patches and I need about 1440. At the rate I'm going, it will be an A.D. (After Death) project.

I cut out 1 inch strips out of the rest of my 1 yard fabric and cut enough strips out of several purple fabrics to keep my going. If I did the same fabric until I ran out of it, I'd die of boredom. It's just helped to do a little of each color at a time. I'll also pick up different purples as I go along. Right now I'm using my stash.

From Quilted with Love

I think I've killed my 60 mm rotary blade and put a small nick in it just from all the cutting. There is NOTHING worse than a nick in a rotary blade. Especially as the stupid things cost a fortune. I'll make it work since I can't drive up to Lincoln or Omaha to get one. And ordering them isn't worth the shipping.

Oh well, I'll get one on the next paycheck. I have a son that needs shoes and some clothes. He wants a skateboard for Christmas and my daughter has a birthday this weekend. There are more important needs right now with this paycheck.

With the utility company doubling their bill a couple of months ago, it's really hurt us financially. That's why I ran out of money before I could get my meds. The 8-9 bucks for a rotary blade would almost pay the 10 bucks for the lamictal. I bought a 45 mm today and will use that until it dies.

It just sucks that one bill can drag down your finances. It's not like it's a credit card bill that you were stupid enough to do to yourself. What happens when these utility companies charge so high, that no one can pay their bills and they get everything turned off? Run crying to the government for a bailout and still charge a fortune to us?

I'm ranting..sorry. Just frustrated after paying bills.

Maybe if I do some more "stripping", DH will get me a blade. He's never going to live that one down. LOL. He still turns red when I tease him.

Ham And Bean Soup

My house smells incredible. And it's not because I did my yearly cleaning. I did that last week.

I have been dying for ham and bean soup like my grandmother made when I was a kid for almost a week now. I didn't even know what it was made with except it had kidney beans and some bits of ham. My grandmother passed away last year and my mother had no clue what I was talking about.

I LOVE the internet. I spent some time flipping through pages and found what I figured was the recipe. Ham hocks and kidney beans done in the crock pot. What are ham hocks and do I really want to know?? I didn't. Pig ankles. My grandma used pig ankles?? No way.

So I headed to Wal-mart and such a thing exists. Dirt cheap too. Picked up some kidney beans in a bag, finished up grocery shopping and headed home. That night I soaked the beans in water with a small amount of vinegar in a pan on the stove. Then I put the hocks in the crock pot, filled water up about an inch over them, turned it on low and went to bed. Some recipes said to cook on low for 24 hours. Err..okay.

This morning I checked the crockpot and it smelled wonderful but there wasn't any meat, just lots of fat. What happened to the meat? I went back to the internet and realized some recipes had hocks and others had shanks. What are shanks?? Something else I don't want to know about? If I understand it right, shanks are the legs from the knee to the ankle.

Woo Hoo! I'm learning pig anatomy.

I stopped by the Time Warner place to pay my bill and asked Kay about this soup. She and several others insisted that hocks instead of shanks were the only way to go as the fat added much more flavor. They also said that next time go to the local store in town to get them and not at a major supermarket.

I still wanted some more meat and went to another store to see if they had shanks. They had some fully cooked ones so I bought a package and dumped them in the pot. A few hours later I checked and the hocks and shanks had fallen off the bones and could easily be shredded up. It tastes like heaven.

Who knew pig ankles and part of the legs of a pig could make such an incredible soup?

Forget the fancy ham. It tastes like salt. This stuff is divine.

Don't Overdose Yourself

Sigh. Don't overdose yourself by 200mg for two days. It's not worth it.

I went back and read the bottle and realized that I'd taken two 15o mg tablets both morning and night equalling 600mg. I'm only supposed to have 400mg a day.

Despite all of this, I did get these done:

From Quilted with Love

I made strip sets like these:

From Quilted with Love

I had cut up the dark purple strip set, but you get the idea.

I subcut the white/purple/white into 1 inch sections and the purple/white/purple into 1.5 inch sections. Then I drew a 1 inch line across the white fabric of the 1.5 inch sets.

Why do this? It gives a measuring line for your ruler to sit while you cut out a 2 inch block.

From Quilted with Love

My side pieces are already set at 2 inches, but my top and bottom pieces are not. They have to be trimmed down. Without those drawn lines, you won't know where to put your ruler and you will stare at it for 5 minutes trying to work it out.

The only problem I'm having now is that the seams are bulky in the center throwing off the ruler when you cut as there's no outer edge for the ruler to offset it.