Continuing on with the massive monster flying geese project from last week. . .
You may recall that I ended up with a big X-block with the intent to make four large flying geese units at a time. The next step is to cut the X into four triangles. These will become the 'bordered' larger triangle for the flying geese units.
If I've been accurate with my seams, each of the crossed bars should be 1-1/2" wide. Half of that is 3/4". starting with the longer strip, I'm going to cut the block in half diagonally, right down the center of the longer strip.
Without moving anything on my cutting mat, I center the ruler on the remaining diagonal. I cut the longer diagonal first, so I can adjust (see the red arrow) slightly if the shorter seams aren't exactly matched up opposite each other. This may make more sense if/when you see this step in action.
I end up with the X-block split into four 'bordered' triangles. I set those aside for a few moments.
I now retrieve some of the background 5" squares I cut earlier. I want to 'blunt' one corner on each of the triangles. To do this, I use a small ruler and cut off 3/8" from one of the corners with the fabric facing right side up.
It's important to trim the corners on the right and left backgrounds differently (but they look confusingly similar!). Notice the placement of the 90-degree angle in relation to which corner is 'blunted' below.
I retrieve one of the larger bordered triangles, and align the R triangle (for the right side of the block, as opposed to the left side (L))
Since the long edge of the larger triangle isn't cut to size, I need to align the blunted point with the top of the larger triangle. (With a larger triangle cut to size, the smaller triangle is usually aligned with the bottom triangle corners.)
For this method, I make with one tiny adjustment - I align blunt corner, then nudge it just a hair or two beyond the large triangle edge, shown below. Secure, sew, press (toward the background triangle).
Similarly, I align the left background triangle on the remaining short side of the large bordered triangle, but this time I don't nudge it beyond the edge as shown on the left, below. Secure, sew, press (toward the background triangle). Result is on the right, below.
The 4-1/2x8-1/2" rectangle ruler happens to be one of my grab-it, go-to favorites. And dontcha know, this block needs to be trimmed to the exact same size as the ruler. . .
I align the seam intersection at the top of the block with the V intersection of the two 45-degree lines on the ruler. And eye-ball that the lower corners meet at the bottom seam edges. Then trim one side and the top, . . .
Then rotate the block 180-degrees. Align, trim, and trim.
The result is a perfect flying geese bordered block that measures 4-1/2x8-1/2"
Lather, rinse, and repeat until I have a butt-load of two different colorways. Remember my goal for this project isn't perfect planning and counting precisely how many blocks are needed. It's 'use the rest of this fabric from the age-old mystery project or bust.
I'll figure out how to sew all these geese blocks together later. Believe it or not, I do have a concept of a plan in mind - maybe 10% of a plan - Any Guardians of the Galaxy fans out there?
It's confession time. At one point, only a month or two ago, I had a different (brilliant) idea to use these fabric squares and I went a bit cutting crazy. (Turns out that plan wasn't as brilliant as I originally thought.) Meanwhile, I cut yet another butt-load of light fabric (yards of the stuff!) into squares that were exactly the same size as the original mystery squares.
So, rather than face another butt-load of squares in a pizza box for the next decade, maybe this project(s) would benefit from flying geese with lights and darks reversed. Or not, we'll see . . .
For now, I've got a lot more geesing to do before I start assembling . . . something.
Happy Stitching!
Head Hummingbird
Hummingbird-Highway.com
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