Monday, January 28, 2013

Starburst Quilt-A-Long - Flying Geese

**  NOTE  - This post is part of a series of posts for the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.  If you would like to join (and have a chance to win one of the $75.00 Gift Certificate grand prizes sponsored by The Intrepid Thread ) you can find a list of the post links here :)  Once again, here is the schedule, but if you want to work ahead you can use the tutorial  just be sure to take pictures of your weekly assignments so you can link them up for weekly prizes :)

January 14 - Cutting Post
January 21 - Goose in the Corner and Half Square Triangles
January 28 - Flying Geese
February 4 - Building Blocks - At least 2
February 11 - Finish Blocks and Sashing
February 18 - Baste it, Quilt it, Bind It
March 4 - Starburst Parade and Grand Prizes


Now, before we get into this week's assignment let's get a winner from last week!!

The GC and HST winner who gets a $25.00 Gift Certificate  is . . .#41 -Izzy - Congrats :)



Wow, can you believe January is almost over already!!  Time flies :)  This weeks assignment is to make a whole flock of Flying Geese.    My fabric finally arrived after it's scary postal ordeal so I am super excited to have new pictures for this week!!  Yippee Skippee!!  


THIS WEEKS ASSIGNMENT  - FLYING GEESE

The great thing about making flying geese this way is that you don't waste any fabric and you never have to sew a triangle.  Double bonus!!  So let's get to it.

Start by gathering those piles you have marked as FG (Flying Geese)  You should have 4 large squares cut from your background fabric and 4 large squares, 4 each from your 4 different print fabrics (all measuring either 7 1/4". 9 1/4", or 11 1/4").  You should also have 16 smaller squares cut from your background fabric and 16 smaller squares, 4 each from your 4 different print fabrics, (all measuring either 3 7/8", 4 7/8 , or 5 7/8 ).  Separate the fabrics into 2 piles with the small background squares matched with the large print squares and the large background squares matched with the small print squares.
NOTE** Once again,  To save time, repeat each of the following sub-steps in an assembly line fashion making a whole flock of geese, vs 4 at a time.   I will be showing  an example of the print as the "sky" on the left hand side of the pictures and an example of the print as the "geese" in the right hand side of the picture.


With right sides together, lay two small squares onto your large square as shown.  Using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.


Now pin both sides of each square adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :)  Stitch a 1/4" seam along EITHER side of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)  Remember, you are doing these assembly line, so like the HST's,  first chain stitch all the 1/4" seams on the right hand side of the drawn line then clip threads and proceed to chain stitching all the 1/4" seams on the left hand side of the drawn line. 


Once again, clip your threads and then align your ruler along the drawn center line.  Cut along the edge of the ruler creating 2 large triangles.


Press the seams up towards the 2 little triangles.


Now, take 2 more little squares and align them on your two stitched pieces as follows with right sides together.  Once again, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the little squares from corner to corner.


Now pin each piece far enough to leave room for the presser foot, then once again, stitch a 1/4" seam along either side of the drawn diagonal line.  (Remember to chain stitch all the left and then all the right sides :)


Clip your threads and then using your ruler aligned along the drawn line cut your 2 pieces in half to create 4 pieces.



Press up to match the other seam.  Lastly, trim off the little corners at either side and the top of your unit.


And you are done!!!  Perfectly precise flying geese blocks without throwing away any scraps and without sewing a single triangle.  Fabulous!!  You should have 32 Flying Geese total, 16 with print geese, and 16 with print sky.  



Here are my 32 geese, all ready to fly away!! 


EDIT -   For those of you that are new to this method of No Waste Flying Geese,  I wrote a previous tutorial on  No Waste Flying Geese that also goes over the math of making them so you can make any size Flying Geese you like.  thought you might like it :)

  And that's it!!  Get your Geese made and your assignment is complete!!!  And now you can enter to win the weekly prize :)

The Weekly Prizes are sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop and a huge thanks goes to them for their support of the Starburst Quilt-A-Long.

This weeks  prize is a Honey Honey Charm Pack by Kate Spain for Moda.  This is a beautiful line!!!



So what do you have to do for a chance to win??  Simple . . . Just link up your "Geese" at the end of this post :)  You can link to a blog post or a flickr picture, or whatever.  Just make sure to link up by next Monday morning as I will be announcing a winner at the beginning of next weeks post :)

Like always, if you don't get your blocks done by next week you can still link it up :) (just not in time for the prize :)    The linky will remain open until the end of the Quilt-A-Long.  Link up when you can :)

And don't forget to add your blocks to the Happy Quilting Quilt-A-Long Flickr group!!!  

Next week we will start to make blocks!!   So exciting!!!!

And remember - Questions??  Please don't hesitate to send them to me at happyquiltingmelissa@gmail.com

Have a Happy Quilting Day!!!


Pin It!

8 comments:

  1. I had never seen this method for flying geese. I hate yr waste created when making them the traditional way so thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. that tutorial just blew my mind and it looks amazing. Thanks for this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Melissa! I am super happy! :-). I can't wait to get started with those flying geese. I love the no waste method.

    ReplyDelete
  4. So I've made all of my flying geese and while some turned out well, others are kind of wonky :(. Can they be squared up a little or should I just redo them? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This was so easy to follow. Love this method.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The zero wasted fabric was so thrilling I had to include the "scraps" in my picture again :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh wow that is awesome :) Thanks for the tip!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Today is April 7th. Got my flying geese done. lol. I can't seem to link up so will go to the flickr group.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your sweet comments. I just love hearing from you!!
Have a Happy Quilting Day :)

Melissa