flying geese question

I have a little lesson for flying geese you might find helpful on my site. Just click on sig below and go to various projects part I

The best method is the one you can do accurately and easily! Roberta in D

"claudia" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@s37g2000prg.googlegroups.com...

Julia in MN

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claudia wrote:

I use plastic template sheets with 1/4" grids, and make stencils placed 1/2" apart. The stencil holes are the finished size of the piece, so the lines are actually the seam lines. The space between the stencil holes are the seam allowances. I find that with a wee bit of planning I can get very efficient use of fabric with little waste, and it is much easier to run my pencil around the inside of a stencil hole than around the edges of a stand-alone template piece. I also keep the plastic sheets and use them again and again for other quilts.

I'm not exactly familiar with Mary Sue Suit's but it sounds like maybe what I do. I do a variation of the Eleanor Burns with a standard OmniGrip ruler. I hope this makes sense. If you've used this method before, it should make sense, otherwise, I'm talking gibberish and just ignore me. :-)

Basically, to calculate your two squares, you take the largest size of your FINISHED goose (ie: 2½ x 5, nice & odd!) and add 1½" to the 5" for your Goose = 6½ square, and add 3" to the 5" = 8" for your Sky. Then I stack & sew the diagonal seams, cut them apart and press to the larger triangle as usual. One problem I had in the past with this method is that the 45° angle would get off sometimes and my geese would not be sized properly. An easy fix that I do now is to shave (I mean the barest!) the smaller triangle edges on each side to an exact 45° angle on the ruler - just a little straightening up, each of the two angled sides independently. Then I cut off those annoying ears so that both blocks are the same square size, which is usually about 1¾" + that original largest 5" measurement above. These square and clean 45° angled pieces are easier for me to align properly. (I know, a little A.R. here, but it works for me!) Then I sew that second pair of diagonal seams per the original instructions, press open and trim as usual using a regular OmniGrip ruler. This does give me the absolutely most accurate geese ever.

Lorraine in WA

Oh yes! That is my favorite for flying geese, as well. I like the 'no waste' and I find it easy to remember to cut one big square and 4 small for each set of 4 geese.

Although...... looking at the Fons & Porter, you could make flying geese with Jelly Rolls!!

QuiltedPerson had written this in response to

One advantage of the Fons and Porter ruler is that the instructions are right on the ruler. I had to hunt around home and finally go to the internet for instructions on the sizes of the squares needed. The Fons & Porter ruler has the strip sizes printed right on the ruler next to the finished size.

If you can only afford one ruler, I would go for the Fons and Porter. It is more versatile, particularly for fat quarters and sizes. I do love the Burns rulers though, even with their size limitations.

Stephanie

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