Making Stroked Flying Geese

A few weeks ago, I posted an inspiration from a beer can that I saw in Mozambique…..

…particularly enjoying the flying geese on the bottom right photo.

One reader (Andrea) commented that they would be fairly hard to make and I concurred.

THEN, I ran across a Facebook reel about making “Stroked Flying Geese”, and as I watched, I realized that they were making a geese block similar to the one on the can!

I did further searching and found that Art Gallery Fabrics has a tutorial on their blog. Check it out….

CLICK HERE FOR THE BLOG POST

They even provide a pdf pattern for this lovely pillow…..

“Summery Pillow” from Art Gallery Fabrics

You can download the pattern HERE

Now, I am thinking that some “STROKED FLYING GEESE” might be in my future…..

How about you?

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One of my favorite things about quilting is motivating others and helping them in their quilting journey. As part of this endeavor, I LOVE to present programs and workshops to groups and guilds around the world. All of my programs work well with Zoom meetings, and I would love to speak to your group.

You can find out more at this link…..

Tips for Perfect Piecing

As I have said before on this blog, I LOVE that quilters are so willing to share their ideas and their tips.

One of my favorite “tipsters” is Deb Messina from quiltblox.com.

She recently wrote two blog posts about “Perfect Piecing Tips,” and they are too good not to share!!

In her first post…..

“A FEW PERFECT PIECING TIPS”

….she tackles, trimming blocks to size, pressing, misting and sewing machine consistency.

The one thing she mentioned that I hadn’t thought of was to stay-stitch around the outside edge of a top before quilting. I hate it when the outside seams start to come apart as I’m basting the quilt, and this will truly do the trick!

When talking about using a mist spray bottle, she reminisces about her grandmother misting clothes before ironing them.

I was immediately transported to the days of coke bottles with “sprinklers” in them….

PLEASE tell me that some of you remember these!!

But….once again…. I digress!!

In Deb’s second post….

“A FEW MORE PERFECT PIECING TIPS”

….she goes deeper into pressing, both seams and fusible fabrics.

My favorite tip here was using TWO Teflon sheets when working with fusibles. The bottom one protects the ironing surface and the top one protects the iron.

What an amazing idea!!

She also talks about using a thinner (50-weight) thread to piece with. I can’t wait to try that!!

So, if you have a few minutes, check out her two blog posts….they are definitely worth your time!!

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Do you struggle to decide what to quilt in your blocks? If so, check out my FREE series…..

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Using it all up!!

Okay….my top is finished….’

Now it is time to make the back….hopefully using up all of the leftovers from the top!!

I normally start out by finding one larger piece of fabric that can cover the middle of the back…..

I added another green fabric to the top and bottom…..

….and started looking for other fabrics to put down each of the sides.

THEN I saw these Half-Square-Triangle blocks that I had forgotten about…..

I really wanted to use them up, so decided to make a strip of those.

My first thought was to make more Flying Geese blocks but realized that I didn’t want to match any points…..

So, let’s piece them a different way…..

….ending up with this strip….

Now I need to add more fabric to the left side so that the pieced HST’s end up closer into the middle. Let’s start with a white strip….

….and add some leftover oranges…..

I wish that I had remembered the pieced squares earlier and I would have made them the accent, but at least they are mostly gone!!

There are a few left…..

….a few scraps moved into the basket…..

….and one UFO box EMPTY…..

The question is which box to clean out next!!

Now to finish the quilting and this Charity Quilt can be turned in at the next meeting!!

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Do the Math

Have you ever thought….”I don’t need to figure out the exact size…. I can just wing it”?

Well, I tried “winging it”. Let me tell you the story.

As we talked about last weekend, I had decided to use the leftover “flying geese” blocks to work into the border of my charity quilt.

The problem was that the internal block was 4″x8″ and the border block was 3″x6″.

So, my first thought was that I would just measure the distances and make it work…..

THAT DID NOT WORK!

Mostly because I failed to take the 1/4″ seam allowance into the measurement.

So, I pulled out a piece of paper, drew out what was happening and “did the math”!!….

Once I learned that each end piece needs to be cut 5.5-inches and the internal strips need to be cut 10.5-inches.

LOOK how well they fit together…..

Now that I KNOW the measurements, the quilt top was a breeze to finish!!

I have been thinking about how to quilt it, and those two center squares are calling for a “Square Spiral”….come back tomorrow, and we will learn how to quilt it!!

I also had some fun with the backing….we will tackle that on Saturday.

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You can find out more at this link…..

Help…the ruler is too short!

Back in December, I posted about a new ruler that I purchased to piece Mariner’s Compass blocks…..

Fun New Tool

As I mentioned in the post, it had some interesting angles and required careful cutting.

BUT, I ran into a problem!!

I needed to cut along the edge of the rule, but the ruler wasn’t long enough to reach the other side.

Now, the OLD Frances would have just eye-balled it, but I knew that this particular design needed LOTS of precision so that wasn’t an option!!

Instead, I grabbed another ruler, and butted it up against the original one…..

When I was certain that they were aligned properly, I CAREFULLY removed the original ruler…..

….and made the cut using the second ruler edge…..

The result was a perfect cut, even though I “ran out of ruler”!!

Try it sometime….I promise it works!!

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