Rainy Day Sewing & a "New" Flying Geese Technique

The sun is shining now but this was the view

out the sewing room window yesterday...

It's been the view a lot lately.

Gutters gushing with rain water.

 (I love clematis--and it loves rain!)

And that's just fine by me.

The garden can grow without my help

and I can work in the sewing room.

Which is why I'm not taking the time even to edit pics. 

After the mending & laundry (priorities!)

I settled in.

  Three new cozies to replace my winter-themed

ones.  The brown one is simple so that the dh

won't mind using it when we're out for coffee.

  

And this one because I like to keep several

handy--one in purse, one in car & one at home.

And, I needed to replenish my biz card holders 

for my shop after selling a couple last week.

Now, onto this "new" flying geese technique.

These are quickie-directions, assuming a general

piecing/quilting knowledge.

This is from the Schnibbles pattern.  Though I'm

going to share the measurements for the geese,

I'm not giving out any directions for this

quilt so I should be ok...right?

I made a flying geese quilt years ago for my

dh that really suprised me. 

Unimpressed with them before, I grew to love them.

Fun and scrappy.  And fast.  So I made two!

But the technique was pretty wasteful with fabric. 

The pattern calls this the "old-fashioned" way.

I didn't quite "get" it so before cutting away, I made up

one quickly and lo, behold--you make 4 at once

with no waste!  Maybe this is only new to me

but I'm going to share how it's done just in case

someone out there hasn't seen it.

Here you start out with a 4 1/4" X 4 1/4" square.

The background squares are 2 3/8" X 2 3/8"

with a diagonal line marked in pencil through

the center.  Place as shown in pic, right sides

together and stitch 1/4" on each side of the marked line.

Cutting on the line and then pressing toward

the larger triangle/darker fabric, you'll be left with

these odd-looking pieces...which is what originally

"threw" me but, with a little "hands on",

I started seeing where it was going. 

And I apparently got excited about getting it

(Well, really, I think I was contemplating on how someone actually

came up with this...which is why I am no pattern designer.   I am quite

 happy to follow other's directions.  I was never real big on geometry!)

because forgot to take pics so I had to make

another one for these next 2 pics. 

 Now place two more background squares on top

and repeat the sewing of 1/4" to each side of your

pencil line--which I hope you can see up there.

Here they are sewn, and one cut.

All four of the first set cut up,

ready to press open.

Pressed and done.

Sigh.  Three are correct,

and then this one is uneven on the top. 

But, that's what practice is for.

And so I leave you with my words of advice:

always make a practice run before you cut out 

hundreds of pieces.  I'm just one of those

people that has to understand what I'm

doing before I start snipping away at a

limited supply of fabric! 

So, what do you think?  Is this new to you?

Or is this how you've always done it?

I have a large flock of geese to make so...

happy sewing!