Am I lazy? Yes. Do I love precision the way small children obsess over the order in which they eat their food? Yes.

So I have come to depend on the simple beauty of the quilter’s rule. Before you sneer in contempt at this beautiful device, please give it a chance. I have often heard it criticised for losing its straight edge or not being completely accurate. And, to the most discerning critic, this is undoubtably true. It is also true for most rulers and ‘straight’ edges. Metal gets nicked, people don’t hold knives straight (we love cutting in very shallow arcs), machines aren’t actually perfect and measurements seem impossible to get exact at the best of times.

That said, if you need one- or 1/8-inch strips of paper quickly, go for a quilter’s rule. They are also very helpful in mapping out parallel lines, cutting squares, making 45-degree angles and doing pretty much anything in obsessive repetition. And they come in a range of sizes and styles to suit most needs.