Join me for a Converging Geese Zoom class September 15th at 11:00 AM. Sign up and download the supply list here (pattern is included with the class fee):
I created this pattern November 2018 for an Island Batik Log Cabin Challenge. It has been a popular pattern in my Etsy Shop ever since. This is a variation on the Log Cabin block and is a fun way to use your Square/Squared, Tucker Trimmer I & Wing Clipper I tools.
I named my original design “Converging Geese” because each block has Flying Geese & Geese on the Edge units, along with Square/Squared units.
Each 16″ block contains 12 – 2″ x 4″ finished flying geese, 4 – 6″ finished geese on the edge & 1 square/squared unit.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to Stitchin Heaven’s Journey’s BOM – Month 12! This has been a spectacular year. You all have worked so hard. Thank you to Deb Luttrell, Founder of Stitchin Heaven, Deb Tucker, Creative Kingpin of Studio 180 Design, Marie Bostwick New York Times best selling author and Jason Yenter Fabric Designer & President of In the Beginning Fabrics for making this all possible. Now to assemble your quilts!
Print 4
Print 6
Print 11
Print 12
Note: WOF stands for width of fabric. This month you will assemble your quilt top and add the borders.
Gather the following pieces:
4 Corner Sections from Month 6
Block K from Month 7
4 Middle Edge Sections from Month 9
4 Pieced Border sections from Month 11
Finishing Instructions
Step 1 – Lay out the Corner Sections, Middle Edge Sections, and Block K as shown in the diagram on page 35.
Step 2 – Stitch the sections together into rows, press the seams open. Stitch the rows together to create the quilt center.
Step 3 – Attach the 72½” Print 11 inner border strips. Find the center of the quilt and the center of the 72½” border strip. Match the center points with right sides together, pin. Match both ends of the strip with the ends of the quilt and pin in place. Ease the quilt top to match the border strip and add more pins between the others to hold the border in place as you stitch. Attach the other 72½” border to the opposite side in the same manner and press toward the inner border strip.
Step 4 – Repeat step 3 for the 75½” Print 11 border strips.
Step 5 – Attach the 75½” Print 6 middle border strips. Using two of the border strips, stitch them to the quilt in the same manner as in step 3. Press toward Print 6.
Step 6 – Stitch a Print 4 middle border corner stone to each end of the remining 2”x 75½” Print 6 borders. Press toward the middle border.
Step 7 – Attach the remining two middle border strips to the quilt as described in step 3. Make sure to nest the seams. Press toward the middle border.
Step 8 – Add the pieced borders. Start with the borders that do not have the N Units on the ends. Orient the pieced borders so that the Corner Pops are against the middle border and the points of the V Blocks are pointing away from the quilt center. Refer to the diagram. Find the center of the quilt top and the center of the pieced border. Match the centers and pin. Match each end and pin. Ease the border to match the quilt top and add more pins between the others to hold the border in place as you stitch. Stitch in place. Press toward the middle border.
Step 9 – Repeat step 8 for the other pieced borders with the N Units attached to the ends. After you have matched the centers and the ends, make sure that you nest the Corner Beam seam with the seam attaching the pieced border.
Note: We recommend that you wait to cut your outer borders to length until you can measure your quilt top. To determine your specific border length, measure the longest side of your quilt in three different places. If those measurements are different, add the three measurements together and divide by three. That will be the length that you need to cut your first two borders. Once the first two borders are attached to the quilt repeat the process for the remaining two sides.
Step 10 – Add the outer borders. Find the center of the quilt and the center of the 90½” outer border strip. Match the center points with right sides together, pin, match either end of the strip with the ends of the quilt, and pin in place. Add more pins between the others, about every 4”, to hold the border in place as you stitch. Attach the other 90½” border to the opposite side in the same manner and press toward the outer border strip.
Step 11 – Repeat step 10 for the 102½” outer border strips.
Step 12 – Finish with Batting, Backing, Quilting, and Binding! Layer quilt top with batting and backing. Baste and quilt. Bind and Enjoy!
Journeys
Thank you all so much for joining us on this Journey! Congratulations on a job well done!
Welcome to Stitchin Heaven’s Journeys BOM Month 3. This month you will be learning to make flying geese the Deb Tucker way, using your Wing Clipper I. My helper this month is Deb Tucker herself! As always use your best cutting, stitching and pressing skills. We will be using prints 1, 2 & 5. Carefully cut your starter squares and let’s go!
Prints 1, 2 & 5
Piecing Instructions Flying Geese Construction
Step 1 – Mark Squares. Begin with one large Print 1 square and two Print 2 and two Print 5 small squares. On the wrong side of each small square, mark two stitching lines ¼” on either side of the center diagonal. I like to use my Quilter’s Magic Wand™ for this task.
Step 1
Step 2 – Position the two Print 2 small squares in opposite diagonal corners of the large square, right sides together. Nudge the small squares in toward the center a few threads from the edge of the large square and align the drawn lines.
Nudge the small squares toward the center of the large square.Step 2
Step 3 – Stitch on the two marked lines, then cut between the stitching lines along the center diagonal of the squares. Press your seams toward the small triangles.
Tip: Stitch just inside of the drawn lines. This will give you more to trim later.Step 3 Step 3 Cont.
Step 4 – Position two Print 5 small squares, one in each corner of your heart shaped units. Nudge these squares a few threads in from the edge of the large triangle.
Step 4
Step 5 – Stitch along the two marked lines.
Step 5
Step 6 – Cut between the stitched lines along the center diagonal of the small squares and press toward the small triangle.
Step 6Step 6
Step 7 – Position your Wing Clipper® I tool over your unit, aligning the correct diagonal guidelines of the ruler with the seams of your unit and trim two sides. Rotate the unit 180° and align the 3½”x 6½” horizontal and vertical guide lines with the edges of the unit. Align the “X” on the Wing Clipper® I with the seam intersection of your unit and trim again. Repeat for the remaining units. You will end up with 24 geese that have print 2 on the left, label these as Unit E, and 24 geese that have print 2 on the right, label these as Unit F.
First TrimSecond Trim4 Flying Geese
Congratulations! You have now learned to make flying geese using the Wing Clipper I.
I love Christmas & I love Christmas Tree Quilts! Over the years I have made several and decided to share some with you. Studio 180 Design tools gives you several ways to easily make Christmas Trees.
I Believe
I made this 7 years ago for my Granddaughter Samantha. I Believe uses the V Block tool. Below is the supply list:
Last Valentines day I posted my Hearts Abound Wall Hanging for Island Batik. Today I taught this class and posted the photo of the wall hanging again. Everyone wants the supply list, So I am posting it here. Remember I’m a Dyed in Wool, Drank the Kool Aid Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor and this Supply List is based on Studio 180 Design Tools: Square Squared, Wing Clipper I, Tucker Trimmer I & Magic Wand. Enjoy
I love Christmas Tree Quilts. I’m always looking for quilt blocks that look like Christmas Trees.
With this block and the Deck the Halls fabric that Northcott gave me to make this quilt, I have a winner.
What can be easier than Half Square Triangles made with Studio 180 Design’s Tucker Trimmer I & Flying Geese made with the Wing Clipper I!
I love designing with EQ8. Having the option of auditioning the actual fabric I will be using is awesome!
Perfect for cuddling up under in front of a warm fire. You can make this quilt using your Studio 180 Design Tucker Trimmer I & Wing Clipper I tool instructions and these fabric requirements:
Life is good! Here I am in Central, NY making a very special cactus quilt for a newly discovered sister. I have a half sister (Mary) whom I have known my entire life. Two years ago Mary wanted to submit our DNA to Ancestry.com to see if we really did have Native American ancestor’s as our mother said. Turns out we don’t.
My mother used to tell me in a hushed voice “you have sisters in Canada”! I always wondered if that story was true. Turns out it is true! I have two sisters on my Father’s side. My sister Marti contacted me and we have been emailing, Facebooking and messaging each other for the last 2 years! And get this, Marti is also a quilter. You can’t make this stuff up! We have not met each other yet. Marti lives in Arizona and as I said, I’m in Central NY. Marti is one determined quilting sister. She has been trying to get a local Arizona quilt guild to schedule a class with me so we can finally meet. She did it! The Havasu Stitcher’s Quilt Guild is bringing me to Lake Havasu, AZ in January 2020 to teach a One Block Wonder Workshop at their event “Quilting at the Lake”! I am beyond excited.
I was looking through my quilt book library and saw this quilt by Jean Biddick from her book “Blended Quilt Backgrounds”, and just had to make it for Marti. I know that this type of cactus only grows near and around Tucson but it is such an iconic cactus that always makes me think of Arizona.
So, of course I opened up my EQ8 to redesign & Tuckerize it. I made a few changes. I decided on 12″ finished blocks,
and of course varying shades of purple from Island Batik!
The star points are made using Studio 180 Design’s Wing Clipper I. Tuckerizing a pattern is one of my favorite things to do, and the Wing Clipper is the best way to make flying geese!
Start by making the small stars that form the center of the large stars. There is a link to a complete supply list at the end of this blog post. Make 21 of these double star blocks.
Once the star blocks were made I started to work on the cactus.
These blocks make up the cactus. (See link below for a complete supply list.)
Marti this quilt is just a simple hug from me to you. Can’t wait to meet you!
My beautiful Island Batik fabrics from left to right: Mr. T Blocks: Arc Pine Needle, Dash-Grasshopper, Seed Circle Custard, Arc Waves Grasshopper, & Sprinkles Playful Pachyderm, & Paisley Dot: Apricot, Candy Corn, Nasturtium, & Item number 121412189.
I have named my original design “Converging Geese” because each block has Flying Geese & Geese on the Edge units, along with Square/Squared units.
Each 16″ block contains 12 – 2″ x 4″ finished flying geese, 4 – 6″ finished geese on the edge & 1 square/squared unit. These Geese on the Edge units are soooo much fun to make! The technique sheet gives instruction for making geese on the edge in 10 sizes from 3″ to 12″!
You begin with starter squares, add logs by chain stitching, square up two sides with your Tucker Trimmer.
Trim apart.
Using your Wing Clipper trim the corner leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Add a replacement triangle and press toward the triangle.
Trim after every addition of a replacement triangle. Add more logs.
The final trim down is performed when I have four rounds of logs for a 6″ finished geese on the edge unit.
Stitch the flying geese units into sets containing 3 each.
Block layout.
I have created a down loadable pattern for Converging Geese (measures 60″ x 60″) that can be purchased on my If Threads Could Talk Etsy Shop.
The Island Batik Ambassador’s challenge for September is “Starstruck”. We must incorporate “stars” into our project. I chose the Hunter Star block and Sue Tuckers award winning quilt pattern “SueNami“. This really fun quilt was made with 5” blocks using Deb Tucker’s Rapid Fire Hunter Star Petite tool and measures 68″ x 68″.
This fat quarter friendly quilt requires 8 dark & 8 light fat quarters. I used yardage for light background instead of fat quarters. Of course, all my fabrics are from Island Batik.
Every hunter star block consists of 2 trapezoids, 2 triangles, 4 star points. I made 64 blocks – 32 blocks with dark trapezoids and triangles & 32 blocks with light trapezoids and triangles.
The first layout is with un-trimmed triangles. Take care when laying out the triangles that when ever dark star points come together that none are the same so when the stars are formed, every star point is a different color.
Having a design wall is very helpful.
Once you are satisfied with the balance of color, stitch blocks together, press seam open and trim using your Hunter Star tool. Full instructions are included with the pattern & hunter star tool.
Once your blocks are trimmed, stitch them together into rows.
Join the rows together to complete the quilt center.
The inner border was made with flying geese using Deb Tucker’s Wing Clipper I tool. A flying goose with a large light triangle always follows a flying goose with a large dark triangle. This fools the eye into seeing chevrons.
Stitch the geese into pairs, you will then have 8 chevrons from each color fabric. Divide the chevrons into four piles containing 2 chevrons from each color. Decide how you want the colors of your geese to flow, and organize each pile of 16 chevrons, we will use 15 per side. Each strip of stitched chevrons will end up in the same order, with 4 chevrons left over.
The pattern calls for quarter Square triangles as the cornerstones. I decided to use four patches, (there’s a story there). Using Deb Tucker’s Four Patch Square Up tool for the four patches is so quick and easy.
This quilt comes alive with color because of the Island Batik fabrics I used.
I just finished my quilt containing Deb Tucker’s BlockBuster patterns #1 through #9! Scrapodopolis seems like a pretty good name.
I used the Tucker trimmer 1, Wing Clipper 1, Square/Squared, V Block & Four Patch Square up tools from Studio 180 Design. I was encouraged by fellow Certified Instructor Sarah Furrer to try a block layout a little outside the box, and I totally did!
This is the layout I chose. I did change it up a little.
My blocks are 12″ when finished. that indicated that my Square/Squared units would finish at 6″. I Needed 16 square/squared units and decided the center squares would be cut from 16 different fabric pulled from the blocks & the side triangles would be the same background fabric used in the blocks. The 3″ rectangles on either side of the square/squared units would match the border fabric. The outer borders would finish at 6″ also. I added a 3″ border outer border to enhance the four square/squared units in the border.
Don’t do what I did. I started in the center and stitched the outer square/squared units to the center blocks, (they had to be un-sewed and sewn to the borders pieces). In each of the corners, I stitched a 12″ block to a square/squared unit & stitched a square/squared unit to a 6.5″ square and then stitched it to the block. The two blocks on either side of the center were stitched to a square/squared unit
This is much better. Now there are 3 rows of blocks in the center ready to be stitched together & the border square/squared units are pieced to the border strips.
Once all the pieces were stitched together I decided I needed to add a 3″ outer border so all the units appear to be floating.
I am so pleased with how it came out! My finished quilt measures 67″ x 67″.
I can’t wait to start the next quilt with BlockBuster #10!
If These Threads Could Talk 