Blockheads 4 ... It’s my day! YAY!
Block 8 ‘Wild Geese’
Hello friends and fellow Block Heads! Thank you so much for stopping by to grab a copy of Block 8! I’m so happy to contribute to this collection of fun by sharing my ‘Wild Geese’ block design with you today. Keep reading for some nifty tips, a little background on my block design and a glimpse of Spring here in New England. Who doesn’t need an extra dose of color these days?!
Wild Geese Block Inspiration
For much of my life, I've lived close to the shore in New England and love all the changes each season brings. In winter, we welcome the arrival of Eastern Brants, a type of shore bird resembling a Canada goose. Brants will stay all winter and feed in a tidal estuary close to our home that we pass on our daily walks. Sometimes a hundred birds can be seen at a time and if you're lucky, you'll catch them take off in a wild, splashing, beautiful formation -- with some flying one way and others splitting off and veering another. My "Wild Geese" block is inspired by this scene and is also a play with flying geese blocks.
Photo by my bird-loving neighbor Tom Raskauskas
Since I haven't had a new fabric collection in a while, I'm using this sew-along as an opportunity to dig in and sew from my stash and scraps! It's been fun to revisit some of the prints and to see how various collections work together in surprising ways. Does anyone recognize some of the collections and fabrics I’ve used in any of the blocks below?
Alternate Block Construction + Helpful Tip
Whenever I’m designing a quilt block, I’ll try to combine and simplify construction steps for a few reasons: to minimize cutting and sewing steps, to limit the number of bulky seams and to create larger areas to show off a print or to fussy cut if you wish. For ‘Wild Geese’, I prefer to make this block using flying geese rather than half-square triangles — especially for the 41/2” block! Here’s how you can alter the instructions if you wish:
From both prints/background fabrics cut:
8 – 1 5/8” x 1 5/8"” geese squares
4 – 1 5/8” x 2 3/4” sky rectangles
To make flying geese units, draw diagonal on wrong side of 2 geese squares. With right sides together, place marked square on left side of sky rectangle. Sew on drawn line, flip down, match corners and press along sewn seam. Trim away excess layers from behind triangle 1/4" from sewn seam. Repeat on opposite end using other marked square.
Make all 8 flying geese units as shown. Sew into squares and follow pattern to assemble block. Press seams open to minimize bulk.
This may be obvious to most of you, but it took me a while to figure out! When you sew flying geese units to another fabric piece, make sure the geese are on top. This way you can make sure your stitched seam does not gobble up the point where your geese meet the sky. Makes a perfect point every time (well, almost)!
Color Love
My best advice to new quilters (which is equally a reminder to myself) is to sew with fabric colors you love. Connecting with colors plays such a big part of how you feel about the project you’re working on and can be an enormous motivator to finish! I guess you can see that not only do I surround myself with colors I love, I’m in inspired by them too. I hope this carries into your work as well!
It’s Never Too Late to Become a Blockhead! Where to Begin?
Start here: Introduction from Moda Includes all the info you’ll need to get going.
Download the Basic Methods PDF that goes over some of the piecing methods used throughout.
Join Moda Blockheads Facebook Group
Participating designers/Instagram handles:
March
Lynne Hagmeier @lynnektq
Jenelle Kent @piecestotreasure
April
Laurie Simpson @minickandsimpson
Anne Sutton @bunnyhilldesigns
Barbara Groves @meandmysisterdesigns
Linzee Kull McCray @seamswrite
May
Lisa Bongean @lisabongean
I’m so happy you’re here! @katespain
Brigitte Heitland @zenchicmoda
Chelsi Stratton @chelsistratton
June
Jackie MacDonald @sweetfireroad
Deb Strain @debstrain
Debbie Maddy @debbie_maddy
Jan Patek @jan_patek_quilts
Crystal Manning @cmanningsews
July
Tammy Vonderschmitt @nithaystack
Camille Roskelley @thimbleblossoms
Betsy Chutchian @betsy_chutchian
Robin Pickens @robinpickens
August
Stacy Iest Hsu @stacyiesthsu
Janet Clare @janeteclare
Sherri McConnell @aquiltinglife
Brenda Riddle @brendariddledesigns
Vanessa Christenson @vchristenson
September
Vanessa Goertzen @lellaboutique
Corey Yoder @lellaboutique
Michelle White @michellewhitemakes
Joanna Figueroa @figtreeandco
In Other News….
THANK YOU!
Thanks to so many of YOU our “Sunflowers in My Heart” tshirt fundraiser has so far raised $5,000 for World Central Kitchen to help their relief efforts to deliver food to Ukrainian people and refugees in 8 countries. We have added baseballs caps and embroidered patches as well. A portion of the profits from sales of these items will be donated to WCK. If you would like to donate directly to this amazing organization, please visit WCK’s website. The WCK Facebook page is updated daily with an abundance of heartening and heartbreaking stories from Ukraine. #FoodIsLove #FoodIsLife If you do purchase a tshirt and would like to join in filling our social media feeds with smiles, support and so many sunflowers for Ukraine, please tag any one of my handles and use the hashtag #SunflowersInMyHeart.
One last thing before you go!
I hope you’ll consider signing up for my monthly-ish newsletter — for creative inspiration, to keep updated on what’s happening in my studio, new items in our shop and mostly … because I love learning from you!
Happy sewing, friends!
XO,
Kate