Triangles and Geese and Swans...

July is my month in the Redbird Bee! This year we're focusing on different techniques and mine is triangles. I wanted to do Flying Geese and when I saw this quilt from QuiltCon on my friend Casey's blog, I knew I had it! And the challenge of figuring out *how* to put it together ~ well, that's right up my alley!

You can see the quilt on Flickr here.

The quilt was designed and made by Lotje who blogs here, with more details on the quilt and a link to instructions here.

So I went about trying to find an easy way to re-create the design. I'm sharing my method here for the Bee gals and for any of you who might want to try it!

This is the block they're making...

I have all the pieces cut and we're using the rectangle and folded square method of making the Flying Geese. They're are lots of ways to make Flying Geese and I think this is one of the easiest. There's a great tutorial of this method and 3 other ways to sew Flying Geese on this post of Martingale's blog.

For this block, you'll make a total of 10 Flying Geese (mine are 2 1/2" x 5" finished). Sew six of them together in 3 rows of two and sew the rows together for half of the block.

To make the Flying Geese that look like they're sitting behind a big one, sew a rectangle that's the same size as the Flying Goose (in this case 3" x 5 1/2") along the long edge of the triangle. Press the seam open.

Place this unit on a 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" rectangle with the point of the goose facing to the center. Draw a line from corner to corner. Sew on the line, flip, press and trim.

Here's the result...

Repeat with a second Flying Goose/Rectangle unit on the opposite side. Again make sure the goose is pointing in to the center.

Sew the 2 remaining Flying Geese together and add them along the top to complete the second half of the block. Sew the two halves together.

 I'll be making some additional blocks with the small triangles (lower right) to add to the final quilt. Mine will have 35 blocks and finish at 50" x 52 1/2".

I'm hoping it turns out as pretty as Lotje's!!!