For the project I'm working on my first thought was to go with a QAYG (Quilt As You Go) block since I was aiming for a more structured piece. How many of you have done QAYG? You should try it if you haven't, it's way fun. Although, I think almost all of quilting is way fun, so maybe that's a biased statement. ;)
Since this is a small block, it can very easily use up scraps without looking scrappy if you stick to a color theme. So, go ahead and Attack Your Scraps!
Either way, here's one way to to it:
Supplies:
- 5 inch square of batting (cotton is the easiest to QAYG)
- 2 1/2 inch square for center
- 1 1/2 inch squares for star points, 8 total
- 2 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch rectangles of background fabric, 4 total
- 1 1/2 inch squares of background fabric, 4 total
For the background fabric you will need at least 16 inches total of a 1 1/2 inch strip.
The very fist thing we need to do is make flying geese for the points of your star. They are in the bottom center of the photo above.
To make a flying geese, you take one 1 1/2 inch by 2 1/2 inch rectangle and sew one of the 1 1/2 inch squares on both ends of the rectangle. Your seam will go diagonally across the star square (the white in my block). I did not trim the excess fabric off the back of the flying geese since I want more structure, but that is totally up to you! For a photo tutorial check out:
Fat Quarterly. All you need to make from this tutorial is the basic flying geese block unit.
Take 2 of your flying geese blocks and sew a 1 1/2 inch background square to both ends. You will now have 2 lone flying geese, and 2 strips that have: one 1 1/2 inch square, flying geese in the center, then another 1 1/2 inch square.
Next you take the 2 1/2 inch center square and place it in the center of your piece of batting. Take one of the lone flying geese blocks and lay it right side down on one side of the center square and stitch if down like so:
Take the other lone flying geese block and it to the opposite side of the 2 1/2 inch center block. It will now look like this:
At this point you want to stitch down the flying geese that you've attached. I simply echo stitched 1/8 inch below the V seam in the flying geese block. No way did I eyeball this, there was a little notch on my sewing machine foot that I just lined up with the seam. Gotta love a helping tool! Feel free to stitch it down how ever you prefer as long as you sew down the outer corners down (that's the only goal for now, we will fill in the rest of the quilting later). Here's what it will look like. Also in the photo below are the flying geese strips you already sewed simply placed on either side of what you're progress should look like at this point.
Next you want to sew the strips with the flying geese in the center to the other sides of your center square. I just sewed both of them on one right after another. See:
Here's what it looks like pinned open.
Next I simply echo quilted 1/8 inch below the V seam in the last 2 flying geese blocks, just like I did before. I love how this looks, and because of the scale you could definitely stop here if you wanted. I, however, love love extra quilting on smaller items, so do what your heart desires!
I continued the echo quilting 1/4 inch from the quilting that was already done, and a 1/4 inch from the seams of the corner blocks. Don't worry about filing the blocks completely with quilting to the edges, there is still a 1/4 inch seam allowance all the way around. With that being said, definitely continue any quilting lines completely onto the batting. It was cut a little larger for that reason!
Here's my set of finished (untrimmed) blocks:
I would LOVE to see any blocks/projects you create with this tutorial! Feel free to share in my Flickr group:
Your Lyanna Jean Designs.
