I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and start regular blog posts again. I feel like I've been on vacation minus the sand, surf and sun that usually is the destination of choice! Some time after I finished my pastel quilt Pink Haze, and before QuiltCon, I was looking for a project. Something that was small, something that was quick and most certainly something with color. HOT GEESE 17.5" x 17.5" One of my favorite paper pieced patterns is Circle of Geese by Piece By Number. It's a pattern on BluPrint (formerly Craftsy) and free to anyone. I've made three versions of Circle of Geese, each time adding my own twist. Borders, colors and quilting are fun ways to change it up and in a sense make it my own. As much as you can when using someone else's design! This is the finished design before borders. I used 12 different shades from yellow to red in the circle and and Kona black for the background. You can print the pattern so the circle goes clockwise or counter clockwise, and it consists of four sections. Each section is identical which makes it easy to precut pieces. I like to figure out the size, cut four and sew each piece before I move on. It makes the process quicker, easier and less stressful for me! This time I added the three geese on each side for more color, visual interest and to increase the size. It took a few tries to get the side geese the right size, but with EQ8 I was able to do that with minimal paper waste. The border geese couldn't much more simple! Once I figured out the placement, the rest was pretty straight forward. Add a couple background pieces and the task was done! I could have done a better job at lining up the border geese on all sides so that they were all the same. As you can see from this photo, the orange side goose lines up point to point, but the yellow side goose does not. Honestly it didn't even occur to me to check that part! Perhaps there will be a next time! When it came time for quilting I knew I didn't want to quilt the geese. If I had I would of wanted to use matching thread for each goose, and I didn't want to get that detailed with thread. I stuck with black thread and created a geometric star in the center to begin with. From there I figured out certain points that I could use to continue the geometric design using lines. It came together in the end. The back is a metallic gold piece of fabric I've had for years. I'm not sure why I would have bought this...but I did. This was a good time to use it for the back and in a weird way it kind of fits. I mean, it's black and it has circles! I'm not sure why that it is, one of my many quirks I suppose!. It isn't because I think I could improve the pattern. It could be an ego thing...I gotta make it mine! I don't know. I just know that's the way I work, the way my brain works! Do you follow the rules or do you color outside the box? LINKING: OH SCRAP! ● MAIN CRUSH MONDAY ● MONDAY MAKING ● LINKY TUESDAY LETS BEE SOCIAL ● MIDWEEK MAKERS ● NEEDLE & THREAD PEACOCK PARTY ● TGIFF BRAG ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIES ● FINISHED OR NOT FRIDAY

Woohoo! I've finished a quilt on the very first day of the year! Surely that's good luck? Today I finished quilting my Indie Geese quilt on our longarm quilting machine. I bound it in quilt-back trimmings...

Hey Everyone!! I have missed you... I have been FLAT out this week! Literally...!! Ill explain later... But for today... I am so excited to Introduce Cara to you!! She is a super Mum! She has put an amazing Tute together for us... The Circle of Geese Block.. I have absolutely NO IDEA how to make this block so i jumped up and down when she said she would share this with us..... Thanks Cara... xx Hello Chasing Cotton readers! I'm Cara from Me? A Mom? and I'm so honored Bec asked me to come over and teach you all a block. Today I'm going to show you how to successfully sew a Circle of Geese block without hurling your scissors across the room or pulling out your hair. This is one of those blocks that can intimidate many but trust me when I say if I can do it, you can do it. This is a paper-pieced block which means you stitch your fabric onto a piece of paper following the lines that are pre-printed on the paper. And it really is that easy once you get the knack of it. This block is a lot like learning how to ride a bike. It might be hard at first but, once you learn it, you wonder how you ever struggled. The trickiest part of assembling this block, in my opinion, is that it involves lots of turning and flipping and folding back of fabric and paper pieces. It's easy to get confused and make mistakes so this tutorial has a ton of pictures. This tutorial also involves some extra steps to help you avoid issues. As you get more comfortable with how to assemble the block, you can cut out some of the extra steps. Or you can throw caution to the wind and just skip them all together from the get go. Okay, so let's get started. First you need the template. I like to use this one. (Note: sometimes that link doesn't work for whatever reason. If that's the case for you, go to http://www.piecebynumber.com/and go to the freebie tab. Look under geometric and you'll see the circle of geese block.) When you print it out, make sure it's printing full scale and not being scaled down. I had to decrease my margins to get it to properly fit on one page. You'll need four copies for each block. Print out a few extras to have on hand. Next, cut it out ALONG the dotted line. This will be the finished size of your block section and you'll use the edge of the paper as your trim line when you are finished, so cut it out neatly and accurately. As you'll see, the sections of this template are numbered. Throughout this tutorial, I'll be referencing these pieces by their number (#1, #2, #3, etc). Because you will eventually be tearing the paper off from the fabric, I highly recommend perforating the lines on the paper before you begin sewing. To do this, simply stitch along all the inside lines without thread in your needle. IMPORTANT: set your stitch length to the smallest setting so that your stitches -- or in this case, the holes -- are close together. The other nice thing about perforating the lines in advance is that it's handy for when you need to fold back the paper along the lines. And in this tutorial, you'll be doing that a lot. Okay, next step. Cut out fabric for your background pieces and fabric for your goose triangle pieces. I find 3" x 5" is a good size; you can go smaller as you get more comfortable but I like to give myself room for error. The first few times you assemble this block, it's helpful to start with larger cuts of fabric. Most of my early mistakes involved using a piece that I swore was big enough but after sewing and turning it, it would be too short. Trust me when I say you'd rather have some fabric waste than the frustration of having to unpick a section because it ended up being a few millimeters short. For my goose triangles.  If fabric waste is a concern, a 19" x 6" piece will fit all six background pieces. Alright, now grab your paper template. You will use the numbers on the paper template as your guide for where to start and where to go next. We'll work in numerical order, so your first stitched line will be the line between #1 (goose triangle) and #2 (bkgd). Take the fabric piece for your first goose triangle and lay it with the wrong side facing up (right side facing down). Place your template on top of the fabric with the words facing up. Fold the paper template together at the line between #1 and #2 and -- using the edge created by the fold as a guide, trim the fabric to leave what will be a 1/2" seam allowance. (As you get better at this block and need less room for error, you can trim it to 1/4" instead.) Now you are ready to position the fabric for #2. I know, I know, when are we going to start stitching, right? Hang with me. Place the background fabric (#2) right side facing up under the #1 fabric. Line them up as noted on the photo below and pin. Let's stitch! Fold your paper flat again and stitch along the line between #1 and #2. After you are finished stitching, fold the paper back again at the line between #1 and #2 and use the edge of the paper to trim the fabric to 1/4 inch seam allowance. Like I said, you can skip this step obviously if you initially trimmed to 1/4 inch seam allowance in the previous step. Now turn the paper over and press your fabrics open. Okay, now from here on out on this tutorial, my photos are going to show the pieces labeled so that you don't get confused. You don't have to do this at home, though I do find it helpful to write the numbers on the back of the paper. Okay, now you're ready to move onto #3, a background piece. Place your sewn pieces right side down and fold your paper along the line between #3 and #1-#2. Go ahead and trim (leaving either 1/4" or 1/2"). Now you're ready to place and sew piece #3. You can either slip piece #3 under the #1, #2 pieces or flip the block over and place piece #3 on top of pieces #1 and #2 (like in the picture below). Which ever way you pick, just be sure your fabrics are right sides together. Stitch along the line between #3 and #1-#2. Turn paper over and press fabrics open. Next you'll turn your paper over so the fabric is right side down. Fold back the paper along the line between #3 and #4. Continue to repeat the same previous steps of trimming, lining up the next fabric piece, pinning, folding the paper flat, stitching, and ironing the fabric open. Are you getting the hang of it? Go ahead and finish up #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 following the same steps as above. Just remember to go in sequential order. Almost done! Time to trim. Use the paper as your guide and trim to the paper. If you are trimming paper off, you are trimming too much. (Sorry, I forgot to get a shot of what the block looks like on the back before trimming.) When you are ready, carefully remove the paper. I find that it helps to start with removing #9 and working backwards (#8, #7, #6, etc.). Once you have four sections completed, you are ready to arrange them and sew them together.Sew A to B and set aside. Sew C to D and set aside. Then sew AB to CD and you're done! Ta-da! Aren't you fancy!! Hopefully, I've been able to demystified the Circle of Geese block for you and you're not cursing my name right now. Happy sewing!! Feel free to come over to my blog and say hello! Thanks sooooooooooooooooooo Much Cara!!! xx Mystery solved!! xx I hope you enjoyed her Tute... I did! xx

Here's your block Renee! :) It's so pretty!

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and start regular blog posts again. I feel like I've been on vacation minus the sand, surf and sun that usually is the destination of choice! Some time after I finished my pastel quilt Pink Haze, and before QuiltCon, I was looking for a project. Something that was small, something that was quick and most certainly something with color. HOT GEESE 17.5" x 17.5" One of my favorite paper pieced patterns is Circle of Geese by Piece By Number. It's a pattern on BluPrint (formerly Craftsy) and free to anyone. I've made three versions of Circle of Geese, each time adding my own twist. Borders, colors and quilting are fun ways to change it up and in a sense make it my own. As much as you can when using someone else's design! This is the finished design before borders. I used 12 different shades from yellow to red in the circle and and Kona black for the background. You can print the pattern so the circle goes clockwise or counter clockwise, and it consists of four sections. Each section is identical which makes it easy to precut pieces. I like to figure out the size, cut four and sew each piece before I move on. It makes the process quicker, easier and less stressful for me! This time I added the three geese on each side for more color, visual interest and to increase the size. It took a few tries to get the side geese the right size, but with EQ8 I was able to do that with minimal paper waste. The border geese couldn't much more simple! Once I figured out the placement, the rest was pretty straight forward. Add a couple background pieces and the task was done! I could have done a better job at lining up the border geese on all sides so that they were all the same. As you can see from this photo, the orange side goose lines up point to point, but the yellow side goose does not. Honestly it didn't even occur to me to check that part! Perhaps there will be a next time! When it came time for quilting I knew I didn't want to quilt the geese. If I had I would of wanted to use matching thread for each goose, and I didn't want to get that detailed with thread. I stuck with black thread and created a geometric star in the center to begin with. From there I figured out certain points that I could use to continue the geometric design using lines. It came together in the end. The back is a metallic gold piece of fabric I've had for years. I'm not sure why I would have bought this...but I did. This was a good time to use it for the back and in a weird way it kind of fits. I mean, it's black and it has circles! I'm not sure why that it is, one of my many quirks I suppose!. It isn't because I think I could improve the pattern. It could be an ego thing...I gotta make it mine! I don't know. I just know that's the way I work, the way my brain works! Do you follow the rules or do you color outside the box? LINKING: OH SCRAP! ● MAIN CRUSH MONDAY ● MONDAY MAKING ● LINKY TUESDAY LETS BEE SOCIAL ● MIDWEEK MAKERS ● NEEDLE & THREAD PEACOCK PARTY ● TGIFF BRAG ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIES ● FINISHED OR NOT FRIDAY

I just received my partner assignment for the Pillow Talk Swap - my third time swapping with them. It's pretty exciting to stalk your pa...

This tutorial is step one in the photo tutorial for making my Spiral Geese Mini Quilt Pattern. You can also use this tutorial for piecing the geese in my New York Beauty Circle of Flying Geese Pat…

Clicking the image will open the Flickr photo. Clicking the link will take you to the associated blog post. 23. Odds and Ends Trinkets Strip Quilt: 22. Blue Plus Quilt: 21. Labyrinth Quilt: 20. Pixelated Camera Quilt: 19. Festival of Trees Charity Quilt: 18. Finished Chicopee Scrappy Trip Quilt: 17. I Just Called to Say I Love You Mini Quilt: 16. Pixelated American Football Quilt: 15. The Middle's Quilt: 14. Gradated Mod Mosaic Quilt: 13. Fandango Toddler Quilt: 12. Granny Squares Quilt: 11. Modern Yardage Quick Curve Ruler Star Block Quilt: 10. Pacifica Charms Baby Quilt: 9. Central Park Baby Quilt: 8. Random Charms Baby Quilt: 7. Whole Cloth Baby Quilt: 6. Lucky Square Castle Peeps Quilt: 5. Pixelated Heart Quilt: 4. Micah's Quilt: 3. 1001 Peeps Supernova Quilt: 2. Circle of Circle of Circle of Flying Geese Quilt: 1. Madrona Road Challenge Quilt:

I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and start regular blog posts again. I feel like I've been on vacation minus the sand, surf and sun that usually is the destination of choice! Some time after I finished my pastel quilt Pink Haze, and before QuiltCon, I was looking for a project. Something that was small, something that was quick and most certainly something with color. HOT GEESE 17.5" x 17.5" One of my favorite paper pieced patterns is Circle of Geese by Piece By Number. It's a pattern on BluPrint (formerly Craftsy) and free to anyone. I've made three versions of Circle of Geese, each time adding my own twist. Borders, colors and quilting are fun ways to change it up and in a sense make it my own. As much as you can when using someone else's design! This is the finished design before borders. I used 12 different shades from yellow to red in the circle and and Kona black for the background. You can print the pattern so the circle goes clockwise or counter clockwise, and it consists of four sections. Each section is identical which makes it easy to precut pieces. I like to figure out the size, cut four and sew each piece before I move on. It makes the process quicker, easier and less stressful for me! This time I added the three geese on each side for more color, visual interest and to increase the size. It took a few tries to get the side geese the right size, but with EQ8 I was able to do that with minimal paper waste. The border geese couldn't much more simple! Once I figured out the placement, the rest was pretty straight forward. Add a couple background pieces and the task was done! I could have done a better job at lining up the border geese on all sides so that they were all the same. As you can see from this photo, the orange side goose lines up point to point, but the yellow side goose does not. Honestly it didn't even occur to me to check that part! Perhaps there will be a next time! When it came time for quilting I knew I didn't want to quilt the geese. If I had I would of wanted to use matching thread for each goose, and I didn't want to get that detailed with thread. I stuck with black thread and created a geometric star in the center to begin with. From there I figured out certain points that I could use to continue the geometric design using lines. It came together in the end. The back is a metallic gold piece of fabric I've had for years. I'm not sure why I would have bought this...but I did. This was a good time to use it for the back and in a weird way it kind of fits. I mean, it's black and it has circles! I'm not sure why that it is, one of my many quirks I suppose!. It isn't because I think I could improve the pattern. It could be an ego thing...I gotta make it mine! I don't know. I just know that's the way I work, the way my brain works! Do you follow the rules or do you color outside the box? LINKING: OH SCRAP! ● MAIN CRUSH MONDAY ● MONDAY MAKING ● LINKY TUESDAY LETS BEE SOCIAL ● MIDWEEK MAKERS ● NEEDLE & THREAD PEACOCK PARTY ● TGIFF BRAG ABOUT YOUR BEAUTIES ● FINISHED OR NOT FRIDAY

Hey Everyone!! I have missed you... I have been FLAT out this week! Literally...!! Ill explain later... But for today... I am so excited to Introduce Cara to you!! She is a super Mum! She has put an amazing Tute together for us... The Circle of Geese Block.. I have absolutely NO IDEA how to make this block so i jumped up and down when she said she would share this with us..... Thanks Cara... xx Hello Chasing Cotton readers! I'm Cara from Me? A Mom? and I'm so honored Bec asked me to come over and teach you all a block. Today I'm going to show you how to successfully sew a Circle of Geese block without hurling your scissors across the room or pulling out your hair. This is one of those blocks that can intimidate many but trust me when I say if I can do it, you can do it. This is a paper-pieced block which means you stitch your fabric onto a piece of paper following the lines that are pre-printed on the paper. And it really is that easy once you get the knack of it. This block is a lot like learning how to ride a bike. It might be hard at first but, once you learn it, you wonder how you ever struggled. The trickiest part of assembling this block, in my opinion, is that it involves lots of turning and flipping and folding back of fabric and paper pieces. It's easy to get confused and make mistakes so this tutorial has a ton of pictures. This tutorial also involves some extra steps to help you avoid issues. As you get more comfortable with how to assemble the block, you can cut out some of the extra steps. Or you can throw caution to the wind and just skip them all together from the get go. Okay, so let's get started. First you need the template. I like to use this one. (Note: sometimes that link doesn't work for whatever reason. If that's the case for you, go to http://www.piecebynumber.com/and go to the freebie tab. Look under geometric and you'll see the circle of geese block.) When you print it out, make sure it's printing full scale and not being scaled down. I had to decrease my margins to get it to properly fit on one page. You'll need four copies for each block. Print out a few extras to have on hand. Next, cut it out ALONG the dotted line. This will be the finished size of your block section and you'll use the edge of the paper as your trim line when you are finished, so cut it out neatly and accurately. As you'll see, the sections of this template are numbered. Throughout this tutorial, I'll be referencing these pieces by their number (#1, #2, #3, etc). Because you will eventually be tearing the paper off from the fabric, I highly recommend perforating the lines on the paper before you begin sewing. To do this, simply stitch along all the inside lines without thread in your needle. IMPORTANT: set your stitch length to the smallest setting so that your stitches -- or in this case, the holes -- are close together. The other nice thing about perforating the lines in advance is that it's handy for when you need to fold back the paper along the lines. And in this tutorial, you'll be doing that a lot. Okay, next step. Cut out fabric for your background pieces and fabric for your goose triangle pieces. I find 3" x 5" is a good size; you can go smaller as you get more comfortable but I like to give myself room for error. The first few times you assemble this block, it's helpful to start with larger cuts of fabric. Most of my early mistakes involved using a piece that I swore was big enough but after sewing and turning it, it would be too short. Trust me when I say you'd rather have some fabric waste than the frustration of having to unpick a section because it ended up being a few millimeters short. For my goose triangles.  If fabric waste is a concern, a 19" x 6" piece will fit all six background pieces. Alright, now grab your paper template. You will use the numbers on the paper template as your guide for where to start and where to go next. We'll work in numerical order, so your first stitched line will be the line between #1 (goose triangle) and #2 (bkgd). Take the fabric piece for your first goose triangle and lay it with the wrong side facing up (right side facing down). Place your template on top of the fabric with the words facing up. Fold the paper template together at the line between #1 and #2 and -- using the edge created by the fold as a guide, trim the fabric to leave what will be a 1/2" seam allowance. (As you get better at this block and need less room for error, you can trim it to 1/4" instead.) Now you are ready to position the fabric for #2. I know, I know, when are we going to start stitching, right? Hang with me. Place the background fabric (#2) right side facing up under the #1 fabric. Line them up as noted on the photo below and pin. Let's stitch! Fold your paper flat again and stitch along the line between #1 and #2. After you are finished stitching, fold the paper back again at the line between #1 and #2 and use the edge of the paper to trim the fabric to 1/4 inch seam allowance. Like I said, you can skip this step obviously if you initially trimmed to 1/4 inch seam allowance in the previous step. Now turn the paper over and press your fabrics open. Okay, now from here on out on this tutorial, my photos are going to show the pieces labeled so that you don't get confused. You don't have to do this at home, though I do find it helpful to write the numbers on the back of the paper. Okay, now you're ready to move onto #3, a background piece. Place your sewn pieces right side down and fold your paper along the line between #3 and #1-#2. Go ahead and trim (leaving either 1/4" or 1/2"). Now you're ready to place and sew piece #3. You can either slip piece #3 under the #1, #2 pieces or flip the block over and place piece #3 on top of pieces #1 and #2 (like in the picture below). Which ever way you pick, just be sure your fabrics are right sides together. Stitch along the line between #3 and #1-#2. Turn paper over and press fabrics open. Next you'll turn your paper over so the fabric is right side down. Fold back the paper along the line between #3 and #4. Continue to repeat the same previous steps of trimming, lining up the next fabric piece, pinning, folding the paper flat, stitching, and ironing the fabric open. Are you getting the hang of it? Go ahead and finish up #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 following the same steps as above. Just remember to go in sequential order. Almost done! Time to trim. Use the paper as your guide and trim to the paper. If you are trimming paper off, you are trimming too much. (Sorry, I forgot to get a shot of what the block looks like on the back before trimming.) When you are ready, carefully remove the paper. I find that it helps to start with removing #9 and working backwards (#8, #7, #6, etc.). Once you have four sections completed, you are ready to arrange them and sew them together.Sew A to B and set aside. Sew C to D and set aside. Then sew AB to CD and you're done! Ta-da! Aren't you fancy!! Hopefully, I've been able to demystified the Circle of Geese block for you and you're not cursing my name right now. Happy sewing!! Feel free to come over to my blog and say hello! Thanks sooooooooooooooooooo Much Cara!!! xx Mystery solved!! xx I hope you enjoyed her Tute... I did! xx

Flying Geese is a charming traditional quilt pattern made up of a triangle centered within a rectangle. The name comes from the triangle’s shape; when the blocks are stacked together, the they look li

My friend Jenny and I were talking quilts the other day, and she was trying to decide on what to do for a wedding quilt she wants to make. "I'm thinking about flying geese," she said, "Have you ever done one?" Hah. As a matter of fact, most of the quilts I've made in the last year or two have involved flying geese. And Jenny's comments made me get them out and get photos of them -- which was no small feat as they are big quilts and I don't have a great way to photograph such large quilts. But with some ribbon and pins and command hooks, I rigged something and here you go. Please take my word for it that these all have straight edges and square corners -- really, they do! So here's my "Christmas Geese," one I finished in December after having the geese units floating around my sewing room for a year or two. Most of the fabrics were from a bundle of geometric prints I fell in love with somewhere along the way -- if you recognize the collection of fabric, do let me know in the comments because I sure don't remember! It's a fun Christmas quilt. It's quilted with an overall swirly design. And then there's the Polka dotted Geese quilt I made a year or so ago, which I mentioned here. At a quilt show a few years ago, I'd bought a luscious bundle of polka dotted fabric, which I'd had out on a shelf in my sewing room because they looks so happy together. And during my one and only trip to Festival of Quilts in the UK a few years ago, I bought a bundle of assorted Oakshott cottons which I also had out because the colors were so beautiful. I was rummaging through my shelves, looking for a particular book, when I happened to put the Oakshott bundle next to the polka dot fabric bundle. And suddenly they needed to be geese. I loved making this quilt! (And truly, the edges are straight!) The quilt that marked the start of my obsession with fly geese is this huge red and white geese quilt. I have a TON of red fabric in my stash, a lot of which I collected when I was working on red and white house blocks for another massive quilt. I started making geese with red scraps and solid white fabric, and I just kept going. And going. And this resulted. I love it, and it lives on the back of the red couch in the family room where it looks happy and is great for movie-time snuggling. This is a bit fuzzy, but you can get a sense of all of the different prints. I arranged the geese into blocks of pairs, and was pleased when a secondary star pattern emerged. I just put a flying geese border on my current project -- and I'm not tired of making them yet!

A slightly grainy Instagram shot taken with my iphone. But I love it!! The back of the quilt will have the baby's name on it so I'll have to wait until s/he is born before I can finish this one off. Just a few weeks to go! Happy stitching to you. Andi xx

Happy weekend and welcome to another block drive wrap up for Covered in Love! These 5 quilts were made from blocks sent in during the Nov/Dec block drive. Two were assembled and quilted by me and three by Kathy. It's been a long time since we did a feminine block drive since we usually need masculine quilts more, but I'm glad we did this one! I love how the soft and saturated colors work together! I also had a great stash of feminine and purple backing fabrics built up to go with these. Absolutely perfect backing fabrics to compliment these cozy, sweet tops. Many of them came from Sandra, who loves bird fabrics, so special thanks to her. Covered in Love is now at 482 quilts distributed to grieving families. With the next delivery we will surpass 500! Thanks to a small army of supporters CiL is halfway to blessing 1000 Texans with quilts of comfort. Speaking of supporters, go check out this quilt Louise made from a mixed box of orphan blocks, UFOs and fabric donated to me by various quilters. Whenever I start to feel I'm falling too far behind on converting donations to finished quilts I can count on Louise to take some of the load off! Below you can see the map of all the quilters who contributed to this block drive. (And I added the map to last week's Eye Spy quilts post, since I had forgotten it.) Thank you, all! Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

Do NOT roll your eyes! It's not becoming. It's true: you either LOVE or HATE paper piecing. Yes, my new book is finally in and it...

Paper pieced stars in the centers combine with gentle curves to create a show-stopping quilt that makes accuracy easy! Solids combined with bright prints create a clean modern look, but this quilt would be equally lovely in an array of traditional fabrics. The design is inspired by the traditional Robbing Peter to Pay Paul quilt block. The pattern includes two sizes, a 2x2 block mini quilt and a 5x5 block lap-sized quilt. This pattern assumes knowledge of basic paper piecing techniques. For a free downloadable tutorial click here. Previous experience with curved piecing is not necessary! You will receive: • Instructions on cutting, piecing, and binding, including curved piecing necessary in this pattern. • Full-size templates on 8½" x 11" paper • Coloring pages for mini and lap quilt sizes Finished size: • 28½" x 28½" mini quilt • 65" x 65" lap quilt Download: You will be emailed a download link after checkout. Please save the PDF to your hard disk immediately; patterns are limited to 3 downloads. EU/UK customers: In order to comply with VAT regulations, please purchase this pattern through my Payhip shop. This pattern is for personal use and for one person only. Please do not distribute. All digital pattern sales are final.

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday! Well friends, I've been taking my doctor's advice to heart and resting my neck as much as possible, and other than making a binding for a quilt that is currently bei

Lately I've been on a kick to try to use more of my scraps. I have a lot saved up, and I'd love to start using them more in my quilts. I designed this super scrappy flying geese block to use some low volume prints, gray prints, and some prints in your favorite color - (right now mine is green) and I named this block the Scrap Bin Geese block. Here's what you'll need for one block: 12 (2.5" square) green print scraps 6 (2.5" x 6.5") gray print strips 6 (2.5" x 6.5") low volume strips Step 1: Using a pencil, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each of the 2.5" green squares. Step 2: Lay out all of the block elements as shown above, with the low volume strips on one side and the gray on the other. Decide where you want to place each green square. Step 3: Flip over the green squares so they are right sides together with the low volume / gray strips. At this point you want to make sure your drawn lines are going in the correct direction (see photo above). Step 4: Sew directly on the drawn lines. Step 5: Trim each seam allowance to about 1/4". Fold open each green triangle and press. Step 6: Next, sew sections of block together in strips, using a scant 1/4" seam allowance (see photo below). For example, sew strip 1 to strip 2, 3 to 4, 5 to 6, etc. Press seams open Step 7: Sew rows together, using a scant 1/4" seam and matching up the center seams. Once all rows are sewn together, press seams. Block should measure 12.5' square You can mix things up by swapping which side the gray prints are on like in the photo below. And here is a sample of what a whole quilt would look like! This is made of 30 blocks (6 rows of 5 blocks each) and would measure 60" x 72". Looking for more quilt block tutorials? Check out my Quilt Blocks pinterest board:

My husband and I have this habit that is both good and bad. We love to stay up at night talking to each other. From the first night we met, we would stay up until almost 4 a.m. most nights just tal…

This Spring I signed up for my first Instagram mini quilt swap! When I saw that the Cotton + Steel Mini Quilt Swap opened up, I couldn't resist joining. I was paired with the fabulous Colleen, aka @busybean. After factoring in her preferences for pinks and blues, low volume, and th

Free motion quilting sampler block using quilt as you go technique. How to quilt flying geese block.

Flying Geese is a charming traditional quilt pattern made up of a triangle centered within a rectangle. The name comes from the triangle’s ...

Ever since I spotted the Spring House Layer Cake Free Quilt Pattern by Moda Fabrics I have wanted to make this quilt. I loved that all I needed was a Layer Cake and some background yardage. The desi

Go through the precision technique basics of quilt piecing half-square triangles in this article.

I have become obsessed with Flying Geese! No, not the ones currently flying south for the winter. With the quilt pattern Flying Geese. It’s a quick and easy (my favorite!) quilt pattern, and it looks great in all sorts of colors! Here is the first Flying Geese quilt I made. Outer Space Astronaut Flying Geese. And a Christmas Goose. Using the 4 at a time method makes these geese quick and easy, while also making sure that all of the points line up just perfectly like they are meant to. I’ve made flying geese before, and even wrote a quick tutorial on how to make them, but as star points, rather than as flying geese. What’s the difference, you ask? The finished product is different based on how you turn your flying geese units, and other background squares, but the construction is the same. So why, you ask, am I writing another tutorial so soon after the first? You have a lot of questions! I wanted my finished geese to be larger this time. And I couldn’t remember the measurements for cutting my fabric to make a different size. As a writer of the tutorial, I shouldn’t have to go online to look up measurements. I should have that resource available at hand at all times. Flying Geese can be made in any size, the finished size is always like this, each individual goose is twice as wide as it is long. Math, I know, it’s hard! Just a warning, more math is coming! I know, I try not to inundate you with too much math, but this time around it’s necessary. Let’s say you want your finished goose to be 3” by 6”, this will make each pair of geese into a 6” square. Why 3” by 6”? That’s the size I used most recently, so it’s fresh in my mind! So, now that I’ve looked it up, I’ve created a cheat sheet chart of many different sizes, to keep for handy use. The 4 at a time Flying Geese method uses one big square (this fabric is the goose body) and 4 small squares (this fabric is the sky). You should keep it handy too, you can pin it for later and never have to go looking for these measurements again. Now that you’ve got the list of what size little squares go with what size big squares, how ‘bout a quick tutorial on what do with them once you’ve cut them? Flying Geese Tutorial- The 4 at a Time Way To make Flying Geese this way, the large square is your width dimension (6”) plus 1¼”, for a total of 7¼”. The smaller squares are your height dimension (3”) plus 7/8”, for a total of 3 7/8”. This added fabric accounts for the seam allowances (that’s the bit that gets sewn into the seam). I wanted my finished piece (remember, finished means once it’s sewn into the quilt and no edges are left unsewn) to by 3” by 6”. To make this set of 4 geese, you’ll need: 1 Navy Square: 7¼” 4 Teal Squares: 3 7/8” Draw a line with a pencil from corner to corner across the diagonal of your 4 teal squares. Take your 7¼” Navy Square and 2 of your 3 7/8” teal squares, and place the teal squares corner to corner across the diagonal of the navy square. The corners of the teal squares will overlap in the center of the navy square, and the pencil lines will match up, to continue all the way from one corner across to the other. Pin in place Sew ¼ of an inch to the right of the pencil line. Turn the fabric pieces 180* and repeat, to sew down the other side of the pencil line. Because you’ve turned it, you will still be sewing to the right of the line. Cut along the pencil line. Iron the seam, pressing towards the smaller teal pieces. It makes sort of a heart shape. Pin your 3rd and 4th small teal squares, to the remaining navy corner of each of your heart shaped pieces. The pencil line will go from the navy corner, and should go right through the V of the heart. Sew ¼ inch from the pencil line, turn and sew ¼ inch from the pencil line on the other side. Cut along the pencil line, and press, again towards the teal. Now you have 4 Flying Geese! Here they are finished and sewn into a quilt. You can do lots of things with your 4 Flying Geese (even turn them into a star!) but here is the quilt I made with the navy and teal geese used in this tutorial. If you are wanting to making this same quilt, the original pattern (not my creation!) can be found here! My version is made with 40 different fabric combos. At 4 geese per combo, that’s 160 geese total. And, one more time, in case you scrolled by it above without memorizing it, here is the chart of square sizes again. Save it. Pin it. Use it again. And again. Happy goose flying! I love, love, love the binding I chose to go with this quilt! There’s a little bit of it in the quilt top too, but I just love it as binding.

Each time I make a quilt I learn something. Usually it's a new or at least improved quilting skill. This time, the lesson was that I should trust my instincts! Earlier this summer, our cute next door neighbors Seth and Leigh were pregnant with their second child. They waited until the birth to find

Here are some inspiring contemporary quilts from the recent quilt show of the Diablo Valley Quilters in California. As you can see below, ...