The next thing I'm kitting up is the Flying Geese for my Wild Goose Chase.  I made the sample blocks so long ago I've forgotten what I did, so I had to make a couple units to check the measurements.

Everything fits together like it should, so it's full steam ahead cutting the browns and shirtings.

Mereth taught me a little trick that she calls Rough Cutting. She cuts a strip big enough for all the pieces, without doing any of the detailed sub-cutting of the actual shapes; it's brilliant because it means you can cut enough for the whole quilt very quickly, fold up the material and put it away and there aren't stacks of fabric on every surface. While I LOVE cutting, I don't love the piles of ironed fabric that must stay uncrumpled, and the piles of fabric waiting to be put away.  I'm always a happy camper when the tabletop and benches are cleared off and order restored.

Mereth makes wonderful little diagrams for herself, and for me when I ask her to, but I generally bumble my way through with just a couple of measurements in my head.

I need a strip 35" x 2 1/8" for the shirting triangles, which I cut with the Easy Angle ruler; that's easy, it's just one WOF strip, or two strips from a FQ. If I cut all the dark parts for the block from one material I can get them out of a strip that's at least 17.25"x 5.75".  The strips can live in the project box, until I have enough time to do the detailed cutting of pieces for each block.  I get too fatigued if I cut a lot of detailed shapes all at once, my eyes hurt and I lose accuracy, so I tend to do them in smaller batches over time. 

 If I was going to make a little diagram, it might look like this;

my reasoning for cutting the pieces like this is as follows.


I usually cut strips from my FQs and half yards parallel to the selvedge, and that means the strips are either 18"or 20"long, depending if it was a yard or metre cut.  If I cut a 4.25"strip for the triangles, I need 22.5" in length to get all the pieces for the block, and I don't have that.  I can cut another 2 5/8" strip to get the squares I need, but that leaves me with a lot left over, and I don't like 2.5" strips to work with in scrap projects.  So I came up with my little arrangement, that gives me an extra 1.5"strip, which I need for another project, and very little waste.  If I want to be reckless and hasty I'll just whack a 6" strip out of the fabric, and not bother with the exact 5.75" measurement.  What's a quarter inch in the grand scheme of things?

To subcut my strip I'll do the 2 5/8"squares first, then cut the rest into a 4.25"strip.  I'll cut the the 4.25"squares, then the 3.5" one.  What's left should be my 1.5"strip.  All that's left to do is crosscut the larger squares into the triangles for the geese units.

I'll cut a 7 3/4" strip of each pink that I want to use, but I won't use 30 different pinks, or I'd have a lot leftover.  I'll use my favourite fabrics more than once, so I should only need 15 - 20 strips.

I'm going to wait till the Flying Geese units are actually made before I choose which fabrics to use for the brown squares in each block.  I may make the block out of the same material, or I may mix and match fabrics, for a more scrappy look.  Either way, I want to leave my choices open.  That also keeps the fun alive in the project, I'm not one for making all the design choices up front and then sticking to that plan.  I like to see what's happening as the quilt takes shape.

I'd taken a heap of photos to illustrate this post, but  my camera doesn't feel like communicating with the computer today; looks like I'll have to dust off the old card reader.  I hope this is a minor aberration on the part of my old D70, I love the photos this camera takes and I don't want to be without it.

Have a puppy photo or two instead......

 Titch

 Dozer

Sari

They are too cute for words.