Flying Geese: challenge accepted and completed

Less than a month ago I shared that I was trying out some patchwork Flying Geese blocks, and that my challenge for the next few weeks ahead was to complete the smaller size quilt top and find some material to back the quilt with.

Well, I’ve done better than that - I’ve actually finished the quilt.

And I mean completely finished.

Yes, I’m as shocked as you are!

I think it worked out pretty well.

While making this I have learnt and relearnt much - it’s been a very long time since I completely finished and quilted a quilt. And while I love the fancy designs that come from quilting by long arm quilters, I was happy to keep the quilting on this one simple, taking a ‘stitch in the ditch’ approach.

I found the grey duvet cover that I had in mind, and I think the colour works well and the narrow border frames the top nicely. I’ve also impressed myself with the scrappy binding, and took the same approach adding this as I did when I made my sewing machine mat earlier in the year. I’ve since read in an online craft group that many people machine stitch the binding on the back and do their hand sewing to attach the binding to the front. Thankfully in sewing there are no hard and fast rules (or not many anyway), and I think my version of doing the exact opposite works well for me.

Hand sewing the binding could be one of those tasks that gets put off and off; I was fortunate that the timing coincided with my monthly sewing group evening and that was the perfect project to take along and chat as well as sew. The fact that I made huge progress in those two hours - almost two sides sewn - and the compliments from other members were enough to convince me to finish this in just three hand sewing sessions. And I’m so glad I did!

My plan is to donate this quilt to Project Linus UK, a charity whose mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children, who are sick, disabled, disadvantaged or distressed through the donation of new, homemade, washable quilts and blankets. 

I was concerned that it wasn’t ‘perfect’ but I’m also not sure that anything homemade is ever really perfect, or as perfect as whoever makes it wants to be, and I’m also sure that only they will see many of the ‘imperfections’ too. And a quilt that is used and loved is way better than no quilt at all.

Are there more Flying Geese on the horizon?

The short answer is yes, but not quite yet.

I enjoyed sewing the Flying Geese and like how they turned out, though I’m not planning on repeating this pattern for my next ‘geese quilt’ - I’ve decided I want a lot more of the geese blocks instead. I’ve seen a couple of designs that I like, one which is made of solely of the flying geese blocks, and another which mixes plain squares. I’m currently deciding between the two, and wondering in reality just how many geese a king size quilt would need.

Well I know its lots, but how many and my tolerance levels are the question.

An interim plan

But as ever a new plan has formed.

I remembered that I had some blocks left over from my Great Granny Square quilt top (which while sewn together has got no further), even though I’d used some to make reusable kitchen towels by backing the quilt block with towelling squares, but I wasn’t sure how many.

It turns out I have three of these blocks left, which is also a third of a small quilt. So I reckoned that if I added another six blocks I could make another quilt and therefore have two to donate at once, so that’s what I’m working on. I’m trying out another new-to-me-block - the Drunkards Path block, no sniggering please!

It’s early days though, but as ever I have a plan for choosing these too - but all that’s for another day, for now I’m enjoying my perfectly imperfect finished flying geese quilt, and that new block.

A Problem Shared is a Problem Halved

* I was invited to the press preview of Gardeners’ World Live and provided with a pair of tickets to visit the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This beautiful border is one that I featured briefly in my highlights post, so it feels right to share more about it in a separate post - though I’m not sure that any beautiful border really fits into the problem category!

And it doesn’t, it’s designed as a space for sharing problems and thoughts while surrounded by nature. The Yin/Yang paving reflects opposing forces and these colours are fed through into the planting in a way that makes this a very special place indeed.

The deeper tones change to lighter colours signifying how our moods can lift, and together it's such a calming, welcoming space - that, as I said earlier in the post it’s hard to imagine a better place for taking a raincheck on our wellbeing and being at peace within its space.

I loved how the planting was so distinct, and while white plants are much more easy to find and use in our gardens, there were some surprises there too - just look at the pale, almost white fatsia by the chair leg. I’m a fan of the fatsia’s more usual green cousin, but this one was just beautiful - and it’s one I’m seriously thinking about for our garden, or at least working out how I can fit one in, if it’s something that will suit the space we have. I’ve too often in the past gone for plants that might just work, but they haven’t really been happy, so I’m not sure it’s really worth it - however beautiful they are!

And don’t you just want to reach out and touch the velvety dark petunias? They look great alongside the dark leaved heucheras (bottom right of the picture - just), which I already have a pot of. Petunias are one of those bedding plants that seem to have fallen out of fashion, but this dark version could just change that I think.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was just as good as I expected! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to the show - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Trying out some patchwork Flying Geese

Back in January at the Newark Quilt Show I bought a kit to make a quilt, and it’s been on my ‘to make’ list ever since. Shortly after the show I remembered that the kit was for a lap size quilt, which to be honest I don’t have much use for, and so my plan was to ‘collect’ other materials to extend this kit into a quilt that we could use on at least a double bed, and so I’ve been picking up fabrics as I see them, here and there as you do.

I realised though that I probably had enough to be going on with and that it’d probably be a good idea to see what I’d actually got. And so I pulled them all out, and realised that while they ‘went’ with the fabrics in the kit, I actually liked the fabrics I’d collected a lot more than those in the kit.

Oops.

I mean there’s nothing wrong with the fabric that came in the kit, it’s just that (as you’d expect) the ones I’d chosen for myself were much more me, my style and my colours and when they were next to those from the kit they popped, and the ones from the kit felt almost two dimensional.

Clearly another plan was needed. And it was quite an obvious one too - I’d make the kit as it was designed, and use that as a practice for making the Flying Geese blocks which I’d not attempted before. It’d also be a good test to see if I liked this pattern, and could be bothered to do enough of the Flying Geese blocks for a larger quilt.

And this week I got started on those geese.

I added the lilac and cream material from my stash, while the mottled blue fabric was part of the kit. I’m not sure its intended purpose was for the geese, but well, it is now. Over a couple of afternoons I made enough of the flying geese blocks to follow the quilt kit instructions - amazingly I made just the right number without too much effort, and without counting too hard. Phew.

The first set I made I whizzed through and was perhaps a bit more cavalier than perhaps quilters are by nature. I didn’t iron my seams, or trim my blocks as I was keen to see how they worked out, and where my ‘points’ were. They worked out just fine, though I can see the advantage of taking it a bit slower, and so for the second larger batch of blocks that’s exactly what I did. The end result is pretty much the same though, but I think assembling the second batch with the other squares will probably be easier, and so it’s probably worth the extra time.

I used the ‘no waste’ method of creating the blocks and was pleased with how that went - it’s much less confusing in practice than the written instructions led me to believe - and I lost none of my points in any of the blocks, so that’s something.

I was surprised at how quickly they came together, and after just three (part) afternoons I was able to start playing about with the layout - this is just one of the iterations.

It’s not too bad is it, so that’s my challenge for the next few weeks - to complete this smaller size quilt top, and to dig out some suitable material for the backing. In my head, I’m remembering an old grey duvet cover which will work just fine. I just need to remember where I put it!

And then to reevaluate if more flying geese are on my horizon, or not.