WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 7: Flying Geese

Next up for our Quilt Class is the Flying Geese block!  This is what a single "flying goose" looks like in fabric:

Piecemeal Quilts

We'll actually be making 8 flying geese, which can then be arranged in several different ways, including some of these:

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

The Crafty Mummy

And here are a few flying geese quilts that caught my eye:

Quilt With Us

Fancy Tiger Crafts

Beech Tree Lane Handmade

Simply Pieced

Bind Quilts

Robert Kaufman

Fresh Lemons

ME!

Flying Geese can be made using one of 4 different methods (Methods 1-3 are shown HERE - Craftsy Blog)
Method 1: Traditional Method: Cut three triangles and sew them back together
Method 2:  Corner Triangles (Starts with one rectangle and 2 squares)
Method 3:  No Waste Method (Makes 4 flying geese at a time)
Method 4:  Paper piecing (Pieces are sewn directly onto paper - this method is more commonly used when the flying geese are going to be arranged in an unusual formation).


Our alternate block is going to be the sawtooth star block, which is made using squares and flying geese units:

Honeybear Lane

Suzy Quilts

Okay.  Here are the things you need to know about actually MAKING flying geese units in ANY SIZE:
First of all - if you are doing your own math (which is super easy) just remember that the FINISHED WIDTH of your flying goose needs to be twice the FINISHED HEIGHT of your flying goose.
Here is a great tutorial for making any size flying geese using method #2 (one goose at a time):  Pat Sloan
There are TONS of tutorials out there for making flying geese using method #3 ("no waste" four-at-a-time), but this one is my personal favorite (and she gives you the formula for making any size flying geese):  Happy Quilting
And finally, a great demonstration of how to sew those geese together without losing your points:  Pat Sloan

Here's the low down on the different methods we covered in class:
ONE AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes it easier to have lots of variety in your block
-Uses smaller pieces to start with
-Will have wasted fabric (you'll be cutting off corners and throwing the fabric away)
-No trimming required (usually)

FOUR AT A TIME METHOD:
-Makes four geese with the same fabric, so you are more limited in your fabric choices
-Uses bigger pieces to start with - in the long run uses LESS fabric
-No fabric is wasted
-Trimming is required (if you cut your pieces oversized - in my handout, the measurements have ALREADY been oversized)

So there you have it.  Here are the instructions.  Let me know if you need help!  Flying geese can really be so fun. :)
WHW RS Sampler Quilt Class: Block 7: Flying Geese

Do.Good Stitches October: Flying Geese

I finally finished it!  And since I'm an impatient photographer, these are the best photos I was able to get in the afternoon light on our foot of crusty two week old snow...

Here is the quilt that was made by the members of the Humility circle of Do.Good stitches:

I was in charge of October and I asked everyone to make any blocks they liked, in any size, as long as it was made of flying geese.  I love what we ended up with!

I asked for these colors, with low volume fabrics for the background.

 

 Then I pieced them all together puzzle style, with plenty of low volume fabrics in the extra spaces. 

For the quilting, I decided to keep things simple/quick/easy and went with a large stipple.

Wanna hear a secret?  I pieced together 8 or 9 batting scraps for this quilt.  I had a bunch of polyester pieces left over from other stuff and I wanted to use them up.  They were not even all the same loft/brand!  But you know what?  You can't tell now.  Whew.
The only problem I had was that I had to rebaste (I spray basted) a few times and even then there were a few wonky spots.  Which only I can see now.  :)

Even though I tried to keep this quilt gender neutral, I had this big cut of pink fabric that just seemed to match the best, so I used it for the backing.  

 When it came time for binding, I knew I needed to go scrappy.  And I still prefer hand binding, so that's what I did!  Next time I think I should really try for a machine stitched binding to get more practice.  But for now, sewing machine time is at a premium and sitting around watching TV (or watching my boys take a bath, or whatever) is more abundant.  :)
And of course, I BARELY remembered to add the label!

This quilt will be donated to a Junior's House in Tennessee, where it will be passed on to a child who has been a victim of abuse or neglect.  I hope it will bring lots of warmth and love!

 

Quilt stats:

Started: October/November 2014

Finished: January 26, 2015

Fabrics: Various

Batting:  Various polyester scraps stitched together

Finished size: 49" x 68"

Recipient: Junior's House

Methods used:  Piecing, Free Motion Quilting (on my home machine)

Binding:  Machine stitched to front, hand stitched to back

P.S. this was my January goal for ALYOF, so I will be linking up HERE:

P.P.S My goal for February is to finish up this puff quilt:

This was also project #1 for the Finish Along (original post HERE), and I will be linking up HERE:

ALYOF: January

Well, it's time for another year and and fresh start.  I've decided to join in with the fun over at A Lovely Year of Finishes again.  :) 

Last year I did great for the first six months, then things got a little less focused and I fell off the wagon for the last six months.  But I DID finish six things, which qualifies me for the final link-up!   Wahoo!
Here are my six ALOYF finishes from 2014:

From top left to bottom right:
July:  ABC Book
June: Building Fun Quilt
May: Towels for a Retiring Teacher
April: After the Storm Quilt
February:  After the Storm Diamonds
January:  After the Storm Snail Trail Blocks

I'm linking up these finishes HERE:

And for my January 2015 goal, I plan to finish this quilt:

This is my Do.Good Stitches quilt top for October.  I asked the members of Humility circle to send me any blocks they liked in any size as long as they included flying geese.  I got some pretty awesome blocks!  It took awhile for all of them to arrive (we've got a few Canadian members), and December was SO BUSY, so I didn't get a chance to put them together until a few days ago.  I put them together sort of improv style and I love how it turned out!  Just need to quilt and bind it!

Linking my goal up HERE:

Sewing Machine Cover

I finished my sewing machine cover!
Here is the finished back:

I used Melissa's Tutorial to make my flying geese. 

Her tutorial was excellent.  My measuring skills?  Not so much.  Above are my geese before being sewn together.  They look great, eh?  Of course, once I sewed them together I lost all my points.  I realized this was going to happen before I attached them all, but after making 12 geese.  I decided to just let it go.  If I were making this for someone else, I would have picked them all and started over.  But I didn't want to do that, so I left them. :)  You can't really tell if you squint hard enough.

For the quilting, I kept it minimal and just echoed the design from the front, only quilting in the neutral spaces.  It took me like 10 minutes.

I stuck some purple ribbon into the binding for ties.

And here is the back.  Although it doesn't really feel like a "back."  It's just the other side of a reversible quilt.

The quilting looks cool on this side, though.

I bound it in a teal batik and decided on a whim that I wanted to hand stitch the binding.  I am getting better all the time and starting to see why people enjoy it so much!  I might do this more often, time permitting...

And here is my sewing machine all decked out!   

I hardly ever take the extension table off, so I made it a little longer to account for that.

I love it!