Hi....I know I will likely sound like such a newbie....but what is a HST..... I just watched this wonderful tutorial on the Missouri Start Quilt Co...and she showed this flying geese ruler.....but of course the pattern I picked out has the finished size of the flying geese that don't match up with any of the rulers I have searched for online......I am getting a little frustrated and so nervous and I haven't even gotten down to my sewing room yet.....

Hi...I found a flying geese ruler on the Missouri Star Quilt Co tutorial.....when I was looking to purchase one my size from my pattern 2.5 x 4.5 doesn't show up.....is this once again me confirming how new I am at this.....do these rulers only do two specific size geese or is it a range....and if so, would anyone know which size I should buy.......can you tell I am just so nervous to cut this beautiful fabric and do it wrong.....

So glad to hear you are going to give it a try! Practice first, they are really not all that hard to do, you will be surprised!!!

I just use a small ruler and mark with a mechanical pencil on the wrong side a diagnal line corner to corner on the small square. Also I start sewing on the inside(longest part). I really do not see purpose of having special rulers like flying geese although many board members do recommend them. Seems to me they cost extra money and may not be the size that you need so you have to make them the old fashion way anyway.

Would you believe it...I went down to begin practicing....there is something wrong with my rotary cutter.....I am going to pick up a new one tomorrow and start fresh......I know what my evenings will consist of this week...practice,practice,practice!!!

Good luck with your practice, sorry to hear about your rotary cutter! That stinks!

I think the easiest method of flying geese is where you take a rectangle and sew to squares to each corner. If you look it up on google there are MANY sites that offer the calculations for the size you need of geese. The reason I don't mess with sewing triangles together is I don't like fooling with bias edges. Doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't, I just think that's the easy no-think about it way. :)

Good luck!

I also just do the rectangle and two squares. I did this on one of my first quilts before I had heard that flying geese blocks were something to be afraid of. I think the fancy rulers and supposed short cuts makes them more complicated than they need to be. Just go for it :)

The rulers are marked in finished sizes, so I expect the finished size of your geese are 2 x 4". See if they have that size listed. I have the EZ Flying Geese ruler from Simplicity and love it. I rarely have to do any trimming, and it makes from a 1.5 x 3" up to 6 x 12" finished size. I've done the 4 at a time, but since I've gotten this ruler, I'm doing them the traditional way much quicker than the 4 at a time due to all the trimming I'm missing out of.

Use Deb Tucker ruler and they will be perfect every time and you get four at a time!! Try it and you'll be hooked.

HST=Half Square Triangle + the block made by sewing together two triangles. An easy way to make them if you need more than one of a color is to cut two squares from contrasting fabric 5/8" to 7/8" bigger than the desired square. Mark a diagonal line across the two stacked squares, sew a scant 1/4 on each side of the line, cut on the line. Open, press, trim slightly if needed and you have 2 blocks made of contrasting triangles.