Sampler Quilt Project – Tutorial 5 (Flying Geese) Blocks 11 & 12

If you’ve been following along with our Sampler Quilt project, you’ll know that we’re now at an exciting stage – creating the final 2 blocks of the project. You can see them both in the photo of me holding the finshed quilt, below.

Making thee blocks involves using one of the fundamental quilting blocks called “flying geese”. Once you know how to create this block properly, you’ll be well on the way to becoming a confident quilter.

If you missed our earlier tutorials, you can still get started with this project. Here are the links to the previous tutorials in the Sampler Quilt Project:

• Introduction – Sampler Quilt Project Quilt-a-Long
• Tutorial 1 – Blocks 1,2 and 3
• Tutorial 2 – Blocks 4, 5,and 6
• Tutorial 3 – Blocks 7 and 8
• Tutorial 4 – Blocks 8 and 10

Key:

• All seam allowances are ¼”
• RST = Right Sides Together
• HST = Half Square Triangle
• QST = Quarter Square Triangle
• All finished blocks are 8”
• The finished quilt size is 36″x46″

Let’s get started

Learning to make the fundamental quilt block called “flying geese” is essential for anyone who wants to become a good quilter. Once you know how to create this block, you’ll be confident creating an array of classic designs.

Furthermore, learning how to make this timeless component will open up many other possibilities for your future projects. Indeed, this is what we will be doing in this project.

I’ve created a step-by-step tutorial on how to make flying geese below. We will then be combining them with the simple geometric shapes that we covered in earlier tutorials. This results in some really quite striking quilt blocks and gives you a taste of what can be achieved by combining simple shapes.

I’ve designed the Sampler Quilt Project so that you are building your skills as you progress from beginner to more experienced. Hopefully you are seeing how this can be so helpful to new crafters… I would have loved to have had something like this when I was starting out.

How to Make the Flying Geese Block

Here are the instructions for making a flying geese block. The sizes are detailed in the cutting instructions for each block, below.

Cut the large square along each diagonal to form quarter square triangles.

Cut the small square in half along one diagonal to form half square triangles..

Place one of the small triangles on top of a large triangle, then sew along the edge. Fold out and press with either your fingers or an iron.

Repeat the process above by sewing the other small triangle on the other side of the large triangle.

You will have some fabric ‘ears’ which can be trimmed off.

Block 11 – Flying geese with border

See Sampler Quilt Tutorial 1 for the colour chart.

Cutting Instructions

Colour B – cut (1) 17” X 2” strip, subcut (2) 8½” X 2” rectangles

 Colour G – cut (1) 10½” X 3 ½” strip, subcut (3) 3 ½” squares, subcut 6 HST

Colour C – cut (1) 6 ½” square, subcut 4 QST (you will only need one of these)

Colour D – cut (1) 6 ½” square, subcut 4 QST (you will only need one of these)

Colour C – cut (1) 6 ½” square, subcut 4 QST (you will only need one of these)

Colour F – cut (1) 6 ½” square, subcut 4 QST (you will only need one of these)

Piece this block together as shown below.

Block 12 – Flying geese star

Cutting Instructions

Note: The size of the large and small squares for the flying geese are different to block 11.

Colour G – cut (1) 6” X 3” strip, subcut (2) 3” squares, subcut 4 HST

Colour C – cut (1) 6” X 3” strip, subcut (2) 3” squares, subcut 4 HST

Colour E – cut (1) 12” X 3” strip, subcut (4) 3” squares, subcut 8 HST

Colour G – cut (1) 5 ¼” square, subcut 4 QST

Colour G – cut (1) 4 ½” square (this is the centre square)

Make your flying geese blocks and half square triangles first.

Here is the diagram for piecing this block together.

What’s Next?

Next month will be the final part of this project. We will be taking our completed blocks, creating the ‘quilt sandwich’, inserting sashing and borders, finishing with binding on the edges.

At the end of it, we’ll have a completed quilt!

We’ll be posting tutorial 6 here in our blog, in the first week of March.

Happy Sewing,

Cindy