Easy Street, Part 2!

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Over 200 Link-Up participants this past week on Mystery Monday Link-Up!  You guys are AWESOME!

I want you to know I’ve planned the steps for this mystery VERY carefully, taking into consideration that as Christmas gets closer, your life is going to get busier.  I have saved the easiest steps for the couple of Fridays on either side of Christmas so hopefully you’ll find time to reward yourself for all of your hard efforts during the busiest season of the year and recharge your batteries sewing a little bit here, and a little bit there as we kick those steps out.

First off – a confession.  I’m sorry, but there will be no more GREY sewn into this quilt!  You’ve used it all – so you can put the rest of your grey away unless you want to use it for binding or a border ;c) 

Now that we’ve gotten the GREY out of the way – let’s move on to some PURPLE!

We will be making flying geese using the Easy Angle ruler and the Companion Angle ruler and 2” strips of your black-on-white and purples.

I LOVE these rulers with my Scrap User’s System because they work with the sizes of strips I already have on hand.  The “wing” triangles and the main “Goose” triangle both come from the same size of strip.  If I was using the regular rotary cutting method I would need 4 1/4” squares and 2 3/8” squares – neither of which I keep on hand so I’d be starting from scratch.  I DO keep 2” strips on hand – so this step was EASY for me!

Let me show you how this goes!

((And a huge special thanks to my son Jeff Hunter for helping me shoot this video!))

Yes, there is a bit of shaking and some weird camera panning – we are not professionals, just having fun at home while trying to show you how to use these wonderful tools in your own scrap quilting!

For this step you will be making 128 flying geese units with purple as the large “goose” triangle and black-on-white as the “wing” triangles.  These units will have an unfinished measurement of 2” X 3-1/2” before sewing into the quilt.  After sewing into the quilt they will measure 1-1/2” X 3”.

You can use ANY method of making flying geese that gives you the needed size, however I am not providing alternative  cutting instructions or sewing methods for these.

Using the Companion Angle ruler and 2” strips of purple, cut 128 purple quarter square triangles.

Using the Easy Angle ruler and 2” strips of black-on-white –Place strips with right sides together and cut 128 matched pairs of triangles.  This will give you 128 right side triangles and 128 left side triangles or 256 total.

Matching edges and the top notches of the right side wing triangles to the right side of the goose triangle, stitch.  I chain piece all the right wing triangles first – chain press, cut apart…and trim dog ears, then come back and add the left wing triangles.

When adding the left wing triangles, the bottom edge, bias edge, and top notch should be even with the edges of your goose triangle. Do you see how the flat spot on the left wing triangle is even with the edge of the unit?  Don’t let it slide down or creep above the edge of the unit. Keep it EVEN!

Adding on the left wing triangles!

One 2” X 3-1/2” unfinished goose unit good to go!  Make 128.

I have added a printable tutorial for alternate ways of making flying geese HERE.

Thoughts on pressing.  You know how opinions are, and that we all have at least one of them when it comes to pressing, but I wanted to leave you my thoughts on the subject.

I am NOT a steam presser.  One sure-fire way to distort anything with bias edges is to apply steam.  All I want is a good flat crease on that seam, and I don’t need steam to get it.  I focus the tip of the iron right on that seam as I press.  That is the ONLY area that needs pressed.  The fabric isn’t wrinkled at this point….the pieces are already nice and flat, so don’t over do it.  Focus the tip of the iron just where you want that seam nice and flat and that is ALL that needs to happen.

I’m also a huge advocate of finger pressing.  My thumbnails are strong and capable of flattening that seam as well, and unlike my seam ripper, thread snips or other gadgets—I never lose them! 

However you press, be careful and beware of over-kill.  It isn’t necessary to kill the geese in the process!

If that isn’t ENOUGH to keep you busy this week – go ahead and cut 64 2” X 3-1/2” rectangles from your black-on-white prints.  We’ll be using those in a future step, and you’ll have them readily on hand.

We will have our next Link-Up on Monday morning, so be sure to come back, participate and check out the other links!