Oregon who are looking for their day of workshop photos will understand. SO, let s get busy with Part 2! It s a flying geese week! On Ringo Lake ~ A Quiltville Mystery 2017 Bonnie K Hunter, All Rights Reserved And we roll into December! I was thinking we should get some photos of Ringo Lake from my Aunt and Uncle before this mystery is over so that we could see it not only in August, but also covered in ice and snow. I ll get working on that! Welcome back to part 2 of our fun Quiltville mystery. I hope that everyone had a great week, and that the 50 9-patches from week 1 didn t overwhelm anyone. Most of you know that this week I am visiting my brother Mark and his family along with my Dad in Arizona. As far from ice and snow as I can get. These coral/neutral geese will measure 2 x 3 1/2 and finish at 1 1/2 x 3 in the quilt. You may use whatever method you wish to use for making these, and I am sharing a few different methods with you. You are going to need 200 of these. Yes. 200. One thing I want to clarify is that when I say coral, we are stitching from the WHOLE FAMILY from coral to melon and everywhere in between. That goes for last week s aqua as well. Our color family for that one runs aqua to turquoise, but they are one color family. I m not going to be that specific every time I need to write a color so just throw in the whole fam-damily! Basic: This trip was a last-minute add-on to the makeup teaching dates I ve got next week in Oregon, so these next two clues are being written ahead of my trips, so I can have them ready and enjoy my travel without worrying about mystery hubbub. That means that on Fridays and the following Mondays the blog will be occupied by Mystery Stuff, and any workshop/travel posts will follow the next day either on Saturday or Tuesday. Shift happens! I m sure those in From coral fabrics cut 200 rectangles 2 x 3 1/2 From neutral fabrics cut 400 squares 2 x 2 1
Draw a line from corner to corner on the reverse side of the 2 squares. Place a square in the corner of the rectangle as shown with right sides together. These little corners from 2 squares are SMALL, and I typically do not stitch a second line on these to save them as bonus half-square triangles, but many do! *IMPORTANT* When doing ANY kind of stitch and flip technique please remember that the drawn line is NOT your stitching line. The drawn line is where your fabric needs to fold if it is going to reach the upper corner of your unit to maintain the correct size and shape. DO NOT sew ON the line! Bonus Buddy to the Rescue! Place your needle to the RIGHT of the line, toward the corner you will be cutting off. Your stitching should touch up against the line, but not be ON it. This will enable the fabric to fold where it should, and the drawn line will end up on TOP of your thread where it belongs, and your folded corner will reach all the way where it should. My Bonus Buddy Ruler is now available as a stand-alone single as well as being included in the Essential Triangle Tool package! You can use the magic line on the Bonus Buddy using the full instructions included to save your cut off corners from these flying geese in a 1 1/2 size to finish at 1 with nothing to trim but dog ears. You ll find them in the Quiltville Store at Quiltville.com/shop.html This handy gadget also has the needle holes I use to assure that I m getting the correct seam allowance so my units come out the right size. Trim excess, leaving an approximate 1/4 seam. Press corner triangle up. 2
Adding second corner. Following the method above, add another square to the opposite side of the unit, paying attention to which direction your line goes. This time, start stitching at the bottom corner of the unit, also keeping your stitching to the RIGHT of the drawn line. strips. I also use the markings on the ruler to trim my units to size if they need a bit of help and squaring. This ruler LIVES on my cutting table and I use it all the time. My next shipment is due while I am teaching in Oregon, and I will have them added back to the store upon my return home. To use the ruler for flying geese: Place the square on top of the rectangle as shown with right sides together. Use the lines on the ruler to make sure the square is even and correct. The lines on the ruler are a double-check for me that my squares are cut the right size and they are square on top of the rectangle. Place the black seam line from corner to corner on the square as shown and trim. Trim, leaving an approximate 1/4 seam allowance. Press. The correctness of your unit depends on sewing with a slightly scant seam, something we worked on in Part 1. Remember that the black line is where the fabric needs to FOLD so that the corner will reach where it needs to. Using the Simple Folded Corners Ruler: Start with the same 200 coral rectangles 2 x 3 1/2 as above. And the same neutral 400 2 corner squares. Stitching seam! Press corner triangle up. Things to love about the Simple Folded Corners ruler? THE SIZE! I used the markings on my ruler to cut the rectangles and squares from 3
The Essential Triangle Tool method! Pair two different neutral 2 strips with right sides together. Add the second square in the same manner, trim and stitch. Cutting mirror image wing triangle pairs! Square off one end of strip set. Units will measure 2 x 3 1/2 at this point and finish at 1 1/2 x 3 in the quilt. The other thing to love about the Simple Folded Corners ruler: It includes an option for making your wing triangles slightly larger, and then use the lines on the ruler to trim your unit to perfection. Square off the edge of your strip set, placing ruler as shown with the red 1 1/2 finished line at the top of the strip set, green triangle down. (Right handed cutter demo lefties will be in mirror image at the opposite end of the strip.) Cut one pair of triangles. Both methods do provide a bit of waste but keep those bonus buddy rulers in mind and turn them into something. The key with bonus unit stitching is to stitch the second line first, before you cut, or your seam allowance will make the bonus units too small. But whatever you do, you choose! And I have a no-waste, no-drawing-lines method that can also have you speeding through these 200 geese in no time: Rotate the ruler, placing the 1 1/2 finished red line at the bottom of the strip set. 4
Make another cut. Each cut gives you 2 mirrorimage wing triangles from 2 different fabrics ready to add to your big-goose triangle. Cut 200 PAIRS (Each cut is a pair) of triangles with right sides together. Big Goose time! Lather, rinse repeat! Working with short strip sets will help increase your variety as you cut. I make stacks of 10 pairs, and load them up on my cookie sheet fabric tray for moving things from the cutting table to the sewing machine. Cutting Big Goose triangles! Making the first cut with the 1 1/2 finished red line at the top of the strip set puts the correct angle at the end of the strip set so we can rotate the ruler and take off cutting quartersquare triangles. See the number 3 at the bottom of the strip set left side of the ruler? That s the FINISHED SIZE of the longest side of the Big Goose rectangle unit. The numbers down the center of the ruler tell you what size of strip to cut from to get this size of unit. 2! We are cutting both the wing triangles and the Big Goose triangles from 2 strips. Make one cut along the right side of the ruler as shown. (Lefties will be working in mirror image on the opposite side of the strip set.) Start with 2 strips, right or wrong sides together, or both facing the same way it doesn t matter. The Essential Triangle Tool uses red lines for half-square triangles, and green lines for quarter square triangles. We could go right into cutting quarter-square triangles, discarding the off-cuts from the left end, but if you cut them first using the red lines for half-square triangles you can save them for another project. This is a common size I use all of the time, so I always save these off-cuts in a useable size rather than just discarding them as waste. Just start a baggie. You ll find a place to use these! Rotating and cutting! I will cut up to 4 layers of fabric, but no more than 4 as I find inaccuracy starts to creep in. Work from short strip sets to increase your variety. Cut 200 Big Goose triangles. 5
Align the left wing triangle and stitch from bottom corner back up to center. Laid out, and ready to sew. When you pull the pairs of wing triangles apart you will see that the notched tops are in mirror image. Lay pieces like this on either side of your Big Goose triangle before stitching. Notches become placement guides for alignment when stitching. All of these units will measure 2 x 3 1/2! I used the 3 separate methods to make each of these 3 flying geese. There is no difference in appearance or size. Choose the method that suits you best. I will choose the Essential Triangle Tool method if I desire units with no waste and easily cut them from strips. I will make bonus triangles using the double line method and the Bonus Buddy Ruler on any stitch & flip corner that is 2 1/2'' square or larger. (Personal preference.) Add the right wing triangle first. Press the wing triangle up as shown. I will use the Simple Folded Corners ruler for units with odd sizes or with anything smaller than a 2 1/2'' square for the corner. I have even used it to trim and square string blocks, removing the corners of the string block for string snowballs with very little waste, and then used the Essential Triangle Tool to cut corners in the correct size to sew back on to the snowball - they fit perfectly! Check out the Quilt-Cam tab at the top of my blog for the June 2017 episodes showing how I work with this ruler. 6
This mystery is given for personal use only. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying for sharing, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author. Please no uploading and saving of this file with intent to share, email or distribute, either digitally or in hard copy. NOT FOR RESALE. A whole gaggle 200! Please send your friends to my blog to print their clues. Thank you! Have a wonderful week with these, and I ll catch you on Monday for our Mystery Monday Link-Up, Part 2! Remember you can link up no matter where you are in the mystery even if you are just starting and deciding on fabrics. There will be more info in Monday s post on how to join in. Quiltville Quote of the Day! From my favorite Desiderata as we go into this busy holiday month: Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. Have a wonderful Friday, everyone! 7