Quilting in Progress

I'm finishing a flying geese quilt top for my second Saturday quilt group. All I have done since our August 12 meeting is trim the geese blocks to the finished size. The quilt top pattern is from the Flying Geese Quilt in a Day book by Eleanor Burns.

To make 4 geese with a finished size of 4" by 8", you start with an 11" square of background fabric and a 9½" square of geese fabric. After stitching, cutting and pressing a couple of times, you wind up with 2 squares like the pink and grey one on the top left. The QiaD Flying Geese ruler shown on the top right makes the final trimming easy, but you can use standard rotary rulers instead. Instructions to make the geese blocks are in free patterns on the QiaD website. The Winged Arrow pattern uses the special ruler and Eleanor's Birthday Star uses standard rulers. Instructions also come with the ruler.

I'm trying the "Mile-A-Minute" quilt pattern by Carol A. Coski (American Quilter magazine, Winter 2000). This is part of my efforts to make tops from my scrap basket. Mile-A-Minute is a bit like crazy quilting without the foundation and embroidery. You start sewing small scraps to strips. Cut apart and press and sew the pairs to strips, etc. I'm at the point where you start sewing your pieces together with a strip in between them. Then you sew the larger pieces together with a strip in between them.

When you get tired of making pieced fabric, you put a ruler on your pieced fabric and cut a square out of it. Cut on an angle for interest. Then you sash your squares together to make a quilt top. If you don't have the magazine, you can order the pattern in the books section on the Quilt-a-way Fabrics website. Click the sheep labeled "Enter Store", then select Books from the drop down list that says "select fabric type."