Sampler Quilt along block 3 and 4 and borders cut

When I picked out the fabrics fro the quilt along I knew I wanted to use this black bird pattern for the border, but I might also want it in the blocks

SO… I decided to cut the border pieces now and set them aside for later

I’ll show you 2 ways of doing it!!

The longest border is 58 1/2”

I had a 2yd piece of this and didn’t want any seams since it’s such a BIG print, so this a bit “tricky” but doable!!

I first lined up the selvages and here I also lines up the prints from the front and the back- when folded in half, I pinned every 15” or so (preferably with FLAT pins, but I only had these handy)

then from the folded side, first I cut off the raw edge, then laid out the ruler and put a pin in every 20” down the fold, until I had 60” and then cut across.

(You only need 58 1/2” but rather safe than sorry!!) you’ll trim down later

Now lay out the fabric still folded and pinned and from the cut edge and about 1/2” from the selvage edge I cut up and keep that line straight, don’t forget to REMOVE the pins as you go, after you’ve cut a bit put those pins back into the fabric layers to keep them straight still

Once I got to the end I flipped it all over and cut down the other way 4 1/2” wide and again added pins to the layers as I went and removed the older ones, and repeated one more time, this way I had 4 strips 60” long, I just folded them up and laid aside

If you have a border print that is smaller or denser and you don’t mind, you just need (6) WOF strips 4 1/2” wide and cut off the selvages

Then on 2 of the strips you cut the ends off too, so you have 4 long strips and 4 short strips (approx. 40” and 20”, we’ll sew these together at the end)

For the sashing/inner border cut (16) 2 1/2” WOF strips and put these aside for trimming later. (1yd will JUST do it)

I was thinking about just doing ONE block since we already cut the border already, but these two blocks are similar in a way, they both have flying geese units in them

this “rising star” block

and this flying geese block

We’ll start with the star block

READ thru the cutting and pics before cutting to get “ideas”

Pick 4 fabrics.

A= inner star, B= inner background, C= outer star, D=outer background

A: cut (1) 3 1/2” square, then (4) 2 3/8” squares, cut once diagonally into 8 triangles

B: cut (1) 4 1/4” square, cut diagonally TWICE into 4 triangles, (4) 2” squares. –(I cut a WOF strip 4 1/4” wide and then after cutting the square, I use the left over to cut 2” pieces across with only 1/4” left over)

C: cut (4) 3 7/8” squares, cut diagonally once into 8 triangles

D: cut (1) 7 1/4” square, cut diagonally twice into 4 triangles, cut (4) 3 1/2” squares (In the same way I was able to fit the 3 1/2” squares twice into the width of the 7 1/4” strip)

*see a pattern forming when you need a 3” square you cut 3 1/2” and for triangles you add 7/8” so 3 7/8”, then if you want to cut 4 out of one square you add 1 1/4” so the double amount- make sense?- never mind….

Lay out the pieces to see if you like them

*notice that the right star, the center star has a different middle square and it’s triangle points are different, I fussy cut the center and used a different fabric for the points, so the choice is yours…

Now I’m jumping ahead, but it’s to show you how I actually SEW most often, I don’t just cut out ONE block and sew, even if it’s different blocks I cut out ALL of it and then plan ahead and sew assembly style- feed the dogs- like they say!

(I also have a leader and ender project going at the same time)

So for the GEESE block

Cut (8) 6 1/2” x 3 1/2” rectangles –I cut 8 of the same for ONE block, but 4 + 4 for the other block

Then cut (16) or 8+8  3 1/2” squares

So my winter block I did the 6 1/2” rectangles in different fabrics but kept the squares the same, but did the opposite on the bright summer version

On the back of the 3 1/2” squares, mark a line, corner to corner, I used a frixion pen, but you can use a mechanical pencil or chalk pencil

lay one square on top of a rectangle and sew ON the line, here my first seam is from upper right down left to the middle

(you may have to click on the picture to see the seam)

Meanwhile I sewed the small triangles to the edges of the larger triangles on the star blocks

With the rectangles, trim off 1/4” seam allowance.

Here it’s quite a bit of scraps, put those aside we MIGHT use them later for something else, normally I wouldn’t do this technique on such a BIG flying geese unit, but it’s to show you the difference.

Iron toward the triangles on these and the small triangles on the other units for the star blocks

then sew on the other side, here’s my large geese units all finished

They should measure 3 1/2” x 6 1/2”

also finish the geese units for the star block

the LARGE geese should ALSO measure 3 1/2” x 6 1/2”

Did yours match?

I like to cut off the dog ears as I sew, it makes it easier as I got a new 1/4” FOOT for my machine and looks nicer too

Now since the large geese units are together, start to lay them out how you want them

I decided I wanted more of a pinwheel effect with the winter block

On the summer blocks I followed the pattern

First I sewed them together 2 and 2, then in rows and then the block

here they are finished!

Meanwhile the star block is coming along too, here’s the center star part

I ironed toward the center first when I added the top and bottom flying geese

I forgot to take a picture of the center star, but I assembled it the same way with the outer star.

Sewing the geese to the top first, meanwhile sew the corner squares to the edges of the side geese units too.

after ironing I always laid it back out on the table, since some fabrics on the summer block were directional I didn’t want to make a mistake.

Here’s the star blocks all done

I love the different looks!

Have you completed last month’s blocks?

If you did, link up