Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Geese on the brain

After the last couple of months of doing everything at the last minute with no small amount of stress (I swear, I'd blink and then the month was gone!), I decided I needed to try something different and finish my block before the end of the month. Crazy!

August is Zonnah's month and she requested a 7.5" block that included circles and/or curves. I've had flying geese in my brain lately (in more ways than one, maybe!) and I decided to try and get them out of my system.

original block drawing
Inspired by this and this and Gail Garber's book, Stellar Journeys: Flying Geese and Star Quilts, I drew this block.

Then I used freezer paper foundation piecing to create the geese (a la this fabulous tutorial from Twiddletails).

samples of my freezer paper foundation pieced geese
This was my first time trying this technique, and I was super happy with how well it worked. I can see why many prefer it to traditional paper foundation piecing-- no dulling of the needle and no having to tear paper away!

I decided to go ahead and applique the geese onto the background. This may not have been the best decision because I had a very difficult time trying to position them (I did them needleturn, using freezer paper on top) and there was a lot of bulk in the seams. I had to do a couple of the points twice before I was happy with them. I suspect it probably would have been easier to just do some curved piecing. Live and learn!

completed block for Zonnah
The points are still not perfect, but I'm feeling okay about them at this point and I am happy with the overall look of the block. Hopefully, Zonnah will be happy too!

9 comments:

Zonnah said...

Beautiful! I love curved geese and can't wait to see this one in person :) Thank you.

Lisa A. said...

Wow. Just . . . wow!

Kris said...

I just saw the post on your blog and now the one here and I still love this one to pieces! Great job!

Hermione J. Schwartz said...

Robin! This block looks amazing! I love how it turned out. I was considering a wonky flying geese something for Chen, but I am so glad I changed my mind. I do like how that block turned out, but this one would blow it away. Great job! =]

Anonymous said...

I agree WOW!

Anonymous said...

I agree WOW!

TaderDoodles said...

This block is gorgeous!!

Helen said...

I've done a few curved geese myself, they get stuck in your brain till you sew them don't they? These are lovely.

Cheryl Arkison said...

Good for you for challenging yourself. It looks fantastic.