Just the Basics Mystery Quilt - Flying Geese (version 2) and Joining More Units

It's month 5 of the Just the Basics Mystery Quilt!

Time sure flies, doesn't it? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was playing around with designs and thinking it would be fun to host a mystery quilt-a-long and now we're almost finished! Next month we'll put it all together and I can't wait :) Just in case anyone is just joining in, here's a little reminder...

Introduction

 

Running from March to August 2016, the Just the Basics mystery quilt-a-long will require no special rulers and no scary techniques. The design is confident beginner level and there will be no paper piecing, no applique, no improv piecing and no y-seams! Not that there's anything wrong with any of those techniques, but sometimes it's fun to see what you can make out of basic blocks.

I promise, the basics are anything but boring!

It's never too late to join in. All of the posts can be found under the tab at the top of the blog, so you can start anytime. New posts will be published here on the first Wednesday of each month. You can follow Devoted Quilter by Bloglovin, email or Feedly to be sure you don't miss anything - the links are all on the sidebar. 

Remember, you can choose to make the Just the Basics mystery quilt in the 48" x 48" baby/wall size or the 60" x 72" throw size. Either way you'll cut and piece the units the same, but you'll make more of each unit for the throw quilt.

If you're on Instagram, don't forget to share your progress! Use #JustTheBasicsMysteryQuilt and tag me @devotedquilter.

In case you're just getting started, March was fabric selection, April was HSTs, May was Flying Geese and Square-in-a-square blocks and June was More HSTs (But Not as Many!). Now let's get going!

This Month's Instructions

We'll be making flying geese again this month and this time they'll be the opposite of the ones we made in May. Then we'll join the all of the flying geese together to make the next unit for our quilts.

As a reminder, here are the fabrics I've chosen for my quilt.

Flying Geese

We'll be making these geese with fabric 1 'sky' and fabric 2 'geese'. In my fabrics, that means grey skies and blue geese.

For the wall/baby size, you need 64 flying geese.
For the throw size, you need 120 flying geese.

We'll chain piece again and use the same method as before to make 4 at a time.

Cut

For baby/wall size

From fabric 1 - 64 squares 3 1/4" x 3 1/4"
From fabric 2 - 16 squares 5 3/4" x 5 3/4"

For throw size

From fabric 1 - 120 squares 3 1/4" x 3 1/4"
From fabric 2 - 30 squares 5 3/4" x 5 3/4"

Once again, rather than repeating the full tutorial, I'm going to share a shortened version this month. If you want the more detailed version, it's all in May's post.

On the backs of all your fabric 1 squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner. Place two fabric 1 squares right sides together with each fabric 2 square as shown. The drawn lines should form one continuous line and the fabric 1 squares should overlap slightly in the middle. Stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides.

Cut apart on the drawn line and press the units open. Place a fabric 1 square right sides together with each unit, being careful to position the drawn line as shown. Stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides.

Cut apart on the drawn line and press each unit open. Voila! Flying geese!

Time to trim all those little imperfections away. First, line up the 45° line on your ruler with the diagonal line on your flying geese and the 1/4" line with the point of the triangle. Trim the top of the block.

To trim the right side, line up the edge of a smaller ruler with the top of the block and the 2 1/4" line with the center point. Trim the right side. Then flip the block over, line up the edge of the ruler with the bottom of the block and the 2 1/4" line with the center point. Trim the left side.

Trimming the bottoms can be done in batches. Position a few blocks with the tops of the blocks lined up on one line of your cutting mat and trim them to 2 1/2" wide.

Making Unit 2

Now that all of your flying geese are made, we're going to put them together.

For the baby/wall size, you need 64 unit 2.
For the throw size, you need 120 unit 2.

For each unit 2 you need one flying geese block from May's batch and one from this month's batch. Join them as shown, with the fabric 2 'geese' touching the fabric 2 'sky'. Because the blocks are all trimmed to the exact same size, they join together so perfectly!

Chain piece them and you'll be done in no time :)

And that's it for this month! Actually, that's it for creating new units for this quilt-a-long! But there will be a little bit of cutting next month, so don't put all your fabrics back into your stash just yet ;)

I am so excited for next month's big reveal!!