When we were clearing up from the Spring Show this book Flying Geese & More #GEESE, came to my attention again. I have a friend who just loves Flying Geese and with her in mind I decided to take another look. The companion ruler for the book is long gone, but I knew I could do anything in this book with either the Fons & Porter Flying Geese Ruler or Marti Michelle’s Ruler both are shown on our web site.
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First, the book. Flying Geese & More. You will never find more combinations of 12” and 18” blocks of flying geese in one location. There are 150 blocks. The author starts with one block, shows you the companion blocks, 1/2 square, quarter square and more. Then she progresses on to variations of the block. It’s all done in pictograms and well presented so it’s easy to follow. The hardest thing I found was sticking to the pattern. Other options become obvious as soon as you start.
I started with the Fons & Porter Ruler, #FPR7846. I prefer to cut my strips from the right. The ruler remains flat on the fabric. I nicked my finger a few weeks ago so I’ve started trying to remember to wear the Klutz Glove, also a Fons & Porter Item. It’s hard to remember new “habits” at 48!
The ruler tells you exactly how wide to cut your strips to achieve the finished size of goose you need. For the 12’’ block I cut my strips 2 1/2’’ wide.
Once the strips are cut, then you cut your geese. The cut on the left side of the ruler is awkward. I went back to it at the end.
Then it was time to cut the sky pieces on either side of the goose. If you square up the left side of your strip before you start you don’t have to worry about the awkward cut.
This is Important and doesn’t appear until the end of the instructions.
When you need to cut your sky pieces 1/2 right side up and 1/2 wrong side up so that the blunt edges will be on the left and right side when you sew.
Here are the 4 variations of one block I came up with.
I used plain squares, and 1/2 square triangles for companion blocks. I like the book and the way the options are presented. The ruler works and does exactly what it should. I still had accuracy issues with the piecing. The fabric is from Northcott.
I’m going to start on 4 different blocks from the Flying Geese & More book and use the Marti Michell Flying Geese Ruler. Once I’ve posted that I will be able to compare +’s of each ruler.
That will be next week’s post.
July 9, 2009 at 4:28 am |
Thank you for the review of the two rulers, Joanne. I order the Fons & Porter version as I’m already accustomed to using their 1/2 and 1/4 triangle ruler (although, I have a feeling I could have figured out how to do flying geese with just this one ruler.)