Flying Geese leftovers
 

I learned to make flying geese with two different rulers when I was learning to piece. It was really difficult for me....nothing was square!

Fast forward to now. I am making a quilt that uses flying geese. I am doing the rectangle and two square method which I like very much.

So the question is??

How do you make your geese?

And, if you use the rectangle two square method, what do you do with all the leftover triangles?

I use them to make another quilt.

I have avoided flying geese like the plague. lol The day is coming soon that I will have to learn to deal with them. I'll probably be posting my annoyance with them then.

I like the four at a time method, but the rectangle and two squares is my second favorite, and is much better if you are using scraps. I use the leftovers for half square triangles.

I keep a tote full of little triangles from years of making HSTs by snowballing the corners. (I only cut out the MIDDLE LAYER because this allows the original correct shape rectangle to remain for matching to the next block segment.)

Every once in a while I'll sit down and match and piece HSTs and Quarter Square Triangles from those saved triangles. And then I use them as cornerstones in sashings; on the corners of borders; as the hearth block in log cabin quilts; in the middle of eight-pointed stars; double-sided as tree ornaments; mug rugs; fill-ins around odd sized blocks; oh, just hundreds of ways! :D

Jan in VA

This is probably heresy in this group - but I just toss 'em. They are typically too small for me to do anything with and I'm not a 'scrappy' person. I'd be happy to pass them on but you'd be waiting forever as I'm not an overly prolific quilter either.

I use the Go die to make Flying Geese. If the size of the flying geese is much bigger or smaller then the dies I have I just adapt the other pattern pieces to fit the Go size. I rarely save small pieces of fabric. I have several scraps bin full and rarely use out of it as it is.

I have snowballed before but for geese, I much prefer EB QIAD method. You don't need her specialty rulers (sold at JAF) but I did a quilt that required over 100 geese and found her method gave me the perfect points I wanted to have. The thing that works is that when you are about to do the final trim, you can check the accuracy of the block or if it is off a bit, you can make the correct. If you have PBS on your TV, see if you can watch her quilting show. She just might also have a U-tube video.

I sew them together to make half square triangles. I have made some cute doll quilts with them.