Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Flying with Geese

A month ago or so, a friend in my quilt group brought a big tub of her leftover 30s fabrics to share with everyone.  She had fnished up a couple of projects with them, and was ready to pass them on.  I've never had any in my stash, and have never really been drawn to them, but, hey, scraps!  So, I ended up with this pretty pile.


I've used a few bits and pieces for my RSC and Quilty 365 blocks, but had been thinking about what else I might do with them.  One block I haven't ever made much, but wanted to get some practice on, is Flying Geese.  I knew there were multiple ways to make them, so decided to research the method where you can make four at a time with no waste.  I imagine there are tutorials everywhere online for this method, but I used this one from Connecting Threads.

I had some solids in my stash that seemed to coordinate pretty well with the 30s florals, so I added them in to the mix.  This method has you cut a 5 3/4 inch square for the main fabric, and 4 - 3 1/8 inch squares for the coordinating color.  (The tutorial includes how to do the math in order to get different sizes.)  Place two of the smaller squares at opposite corners of the larger square, draw a line, and sew on either side of the line.


Cut on the drawn line to make two new pieces.


Then add the two remaining small squares as shown below, draw a line through the center, sew on either side of the line, and cut apart again.


After pressing, you end up with four flying geese!  If your piecing and stitching is precise, they will be 4 1/2 inches finished.  Mine were pretty close, but I did have to do a little trimming!


So far, I've made four sets of flying geese.  I laid them out one way, with all the same colors together.


And another way, just to see what they would look like if I mixed them up a little bit.  


Kind of fun to play with!  Who knows what they will become...  There is certainly still a lot of fabric left to make more flying geese and end up with something bigger!  

Linking up with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap! today.  Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!





8 comments:

Cathy said...

I've tried that flying geese method a couple of times and I have never had luck turning out four good ones. I guess I'm not precise!

There's lots of things to do with flying geese. You look like you are having fun already playing with them.

Lucky you...I LOVE 30s. They remind me of my grandma's quilts - she taught me to sew.

gayle said...

I haven't tried that method of flying geese yet, though I've read through several tutorials. I've only made them one at a time, but I definitely plan to try out this way.
Flying geese are fun to play with - enjoy all your pretty 30's goosies!

Joanne said...

I have had pretty good luck with that method although I still like to square them up afterwards. I love my Bloc Loc rulers for that task. What a great gift. You should keep going and see where those geese lead you. Joanne

Christine B said...

Lovely flying geese! I love this method for making them and yours look so pretty in the 30s fabrics! Christine x

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

I agree, your geese blocks are cute! I look forward to seeing what you end up making with them. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

Alison V. said...

Those gooses are adorable!

Nancy said...

I would not be able to resist the 1930s fabric, either, but I probably wouldn't have put it to use so quickly, either. Love your geese, especially the ones with dark red/burgundy. I haven't tried making them the way you did because I would have to draw 1/4" lines for them, too.
--Nancy. (ndmessier @ aol.com, joyforgrace.blogspot.com)

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

I only tried that method once and mine turned out small. Reading your tutorial it looks easy and yours turned out great. I think I made a mistake so I'll try again. Thank you.
Smiles
Kate