Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Thinking Christmas and flying geese

   For the guild quilt show, I am demoing how to do the one seam flying geese block.   I learned this technique last year and did a journal quilt with the units.
    I recently ran across a You tube video with another variation of this.  Suzanne MeNeill does a 5 minute block that is really the same thing.   So I am not going to repeat her great tutorial, and  I did use one of her projects.  (Her book  on this is due out this month....got to get one!)
    First she showed a pinwheel block.....love  those curves!   They are just stitched down---no curved seams to sew.   I used scraps that were already pieced and leftover from an earlier project, instead of the strips she used.   I have 4 more blocks that I can put together.....why that's at least half a quilt size!   I may just cut some strips and make a few more to get a whole top.
    What is really great about this----any size you want to do----the math is easy.  I found this at
Connecting Threads -----scroll down to Method 4 for the one seam flying geese.

   On to the small project.....I call it ....
 10 days to Christmas.  Growing up, I knew that when my birthday arrived on the 14th of December,  there were only 10 more days to Christmas.  And there are 10 little pockets on this tree.....that could be filled with small gifts (for me, by me) or hold Christmas cards.  There is also a larger pocket at the base  that was added after quilting the main project.  The binding finishes it off and joins the two sections.  Of course you can leave off the pocket.
   This would be very cute done with more trees....maybe  3 of different  heights, or adding  a tall skinny house between 2 trees. Or a row of pinwheels, or.....you design it!
   I used 4 inch squares for this one  and the overall length is 32" and I made it about 10" wide.  It took about 1 hour to cut, sew, press,  stitch on the star and then pin for quilting.   So I do mean this is quick and easy.
   OK, so now I am beginning to think Christmas......it's still summer, and I am jumping to December.  Maybe I should do this in fall tones, too....that sounds more reasonable.
  Happy stitching.  

6 comments:

Lynne said...

It may be still summer, but it's only eighteen weeks away!

Janet O. said...

Very clever little tree hanging. Yikes, I just realized we put up our tree in 3 months!

*karendianne. said...

All very neat! I really love that tree and the feeling of Christmas. After this terrible summer, any word that feels like winter makes me smile!

Terri said...

Love it! I especially like that it is for you! I initially thought to make one for each grandkid and fill the pockets with flatter candies... except it would take me forever - 8 grands... Nope. Not going to be making that. Most of them are teens, and nothing impresses them unless it is expensive or electronic. How's a granny to compete with that?
Hugs

Quilting Babcia said...

I do love your five-minute block! Thanks for sharing the link to Suzanne's video.
This year's Christmas project is making a bed size quilt for each of the six grandchildren, so probably no real "Christmasy" items this year. It'll be a stretch to get that last top pieced and three more tops FMQ'd before it's time to ship them back to the east coast. But that tree with the pockets definitely looks like a fun project for next year.

Nicki said...

That 5 minuted block is really cool & can be used in so many different ways. Thanks for the link. I love your Christmas tree wall hanging. It's really very versatile too. I'm having to start thinking about Christmas now too. I don't have a lot to get for each year but always like to make the gals in the office something.

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