Flying Geese Blocks ( How to)!

Example of a Flying Geese quilt-

pink baby quilt made last April (2009)

Directions to make easy 'Flying Geese' blocks

Cut out rectangles 4 1/2" by 2 1/2 " and twice as many 2 1/2"squares

Draw a diagonal line on back of squares

Sew on diagonal line;

Press square back to form triangle

Sew 2nd square onto block, overlap it just slightly.

Cut off unneeded fabric, if you wish

Assortment of completed "Flying Geese" blocks

I have decided on a pattern for the next little baby quilt, the "Quilting for Babes" quilt that I'm making for Kathy Murray's altruistic neonatal project in Winnipeg. She wants the finished quilts all to be 24" by 36" and so I decided to make Flying Geese blocks (4" by 2") which I can easily make into a quilt that size. (Most of my other quilt patterns are either square patterns and/ or too big and I can't figure out how to change them to make it exactly 24 by 36 inches.)

One nice thing about making Flying Geese blocks is that you can use up small amounts of left over fabric that is difficult to find a use for otherwise (and I hate to throw things out!)

I started cutting some of the fabric last night. I have a bunch of the 2 1/2 by 4 1/2 little rectangles cut out and also many of the little 2 1/2 squares. I drew the diagonal lines on the back of some of the little squares with a pencil. The next step is to sew 2 little squares diagonally on the pencil line at each end of the rectangles, one square at a time, pressing the squares over into a triangle to get the Flying Geese V in the middle. Overlap them just slightly at the middle of the rectangle.

(I find that if I sew just a smidge to the outside of the pencil line, the blocks turn out better.)

After that, you have the choice whether to cut off the unneeded bottom half of the square (or some people will tell you to cut both the square and the rectangle underneath to alleviate the thickness of the ends of the blocks), but I usually don't bother to cut off anything. I think it adds to the thickness of the quilt itself and it is not noticeable in any way once the blocks are sewn into a quilt.

( The very first time I made a quilt with flying geese blocks I did cut off all the extra till parts and then I used then to make mini flying geese and sewed them all sideways to make a different strip which I incorporated into the quilt. It was a lot of work but uniquely my own design so I like it!)

See photos above... I wish I knew how to make my photos appear in the middle of the text next to the paragraph it concerns!!!)

Once you have a number of the blocks completed then sew them to one another in a row so all the middle triangles are facing the same direction just like a line of flying geese. You can make your rows as long or as short as you want your quilt to be. Separate those rows by strips of fabric any width you like but 2 inch width is pretty common.