Fun and easy quilt block tutorial

Hi everyone,

HAPPY SUMMER!

I hope you are having a great one so far – here in Buffalo, NY it is simply gorgeous!!

I am coming back here on my blog and hope to be much more regular in sharing (again…)

Why is that, you may ask?

Well, for a while I though no one looks at blogs any more in the era of social media, short attention span and scrolling but you know what – I simply love to share some longer content! I love to share how-tos and tutorials and some of these simply can’t be smushed into 1-3 minutes! So here I am!

Speaking of tutorials – I decided to refresh this quilt block tutorial, 3D Flying Geese with a twist – it is very summery, just so fun to do and I hope you will give it a try.

Both of these pillows are SUPER-EASY to make, feature my favorite/did-you-try-this? method of making Flying Geese – 3D, one-seam Flying Geese method, and have some fun texture to boot, curtesy of Chenille-It Blooming Bias tape!!

If you follow me on Instagram (if not, find me HERE!) you know I really like to make Flying geese using this method and what I like even more is how many creative possibilities this technique has. From a simple 3D Flying Geese like this one…

…to overlapped blocks like this one:

To now some blocks with added texture, by using the Chenille-It Blooming Bias tape on them:

And yes, these 3D Flying Geese are also PIECED! Intrigued yet?

Well I am here to tell you that this variation is also very easy to make! I shared a version of this tutorial few years ago but I feel we need to bring it up to the surface so you can find it easily and play!

SO LET’S GET STARTED!!

Here is what you will need to make this rectangular pillow, (14″ x 20″ ):

• Background fabric – one Fat Quarter is enough but it is tight! (see diagram below). To have a bit more wiggle room, you would need about 1/3 of a yard
• Fabric for Flying Geese – small pieces (see cutting list below)

Here is what to cut: (NOTE: if using a FQ, please see the image below for the order of cutting!)

• eight 4.5″ squares – background fabric (used in Flying geese blocks)
• two 4.5″x8.5″ rectangles – background fabric
• two 2.5″x8.5″ rectangles – background fabric
• two 1.5″x14.5″ rectangles – background fabric
• one 2.5″x14.5″ rectangle – background fabric
• one 3″x19″ strip of print #1 (for Flying Geese)
• one 3″x19″ strip of print #2 (for Flying geese)
• one 2″x19″ strip of accent color #1 (for Flying Geese)
• one 2″x19″ strip of accent color #2 (for Flying Geese)
• Chenille-It Blooming Bias tape – I used two different colors in two different widths, but you can change that to your liking – you will need approximately 85″ in length for EACH color/width (depending on how much you want to use, see below)
• To finish the pillow you will need: TWO 14″ squares of fabric for pillow back and optional – 22″x16″ piece of batting and backing fabric if you want to quilt your pillow front, like I did.

This is the chart on how to cut all background pieces from one fat quarter. Note the order of cutting above!

After cutting all of your pieces for the pillow top, this is what you should have:

Pieces for Flying Geese blocks on the left and rest of the background pieces on the right

1. First step is to join 3″ and 2″ strips of print and accent colors together, to make a strip-set that will be used for Flying Geese blocks – join strips in desired color combination, LENGHTWISE, with 1/4″ seam allowance:

Once pieced together, press your seams as you like (I typically press to one side) and then it is time to add that texture – Chenille-It Blooming Bias tape. If you have enever used this product, just click on the link for more information (and if you need to buy it!)

Of course this step is optional, and you can also simply continue without it. However, if you like this texture, below are few images how I did it: I layered two different colors and two diffwerent widths and stitched them as shown, right on top of the seam in my pieced strip-set.

After you stitched down your Blooming Bias tape(s), you are now ready to use this for your 3D Flying Geese blocks! Isn’t this such a fun variation for this technique?

For this particular project, you would cut this strip-set into 8 1/2″ segments, to be used in the construction of the 3D Flying Geese blocks (each of this rectangles should be 4 1/2″ x 8 1/2″).

I you are familiar with the construction of the 3D Flying Geese blocks, at this point you would proceeded to make your blocks, using the rectangles above and 4 1/2″ squares of the background fabric. My detailed tutorial on this process and makings of these two pillows is HERE.

In short: fold your rectangles and layer them on the background square as shown (make sure fold is on the TOP!):

Place your second background square on the top, right side down:

And stitch 1/4″ seam on ONE side of that “sandwich”, by keeping that rectangle fold on the top.

Once stitched, open and press the square to one side and then open the folded rectangle to form the 3D triangle!

Images here are shown with a plain fabric, but it is all the same with your pieced fabric too.

Once you press your open triengles in place, your blocks will look like this:

You can do this to literally ANY project or 3D Flying Geese blocks to have endless creative possibilities!

But to finish these two particular pillows, just click on the link HERE and scroll down get detailed instructions on how to piece all the elements into the two pillows shown at the begining, how to quilt and finish your pillows. It is all in that older blog post I mentioned in the begining.

Yes I did make a whole quilt in this beautiful summery collection (Boscage collection by Katarina Roccella, for Art Gallery Fabrics) and even though this is now an older collection that you may have hard time finding in stores, this pattern would work with any set of beautiful prints you want to showcase.

And the best part? You can find a free pattern right here in my blog!

I lost track how many times I used this pattern – for quilck baby quilt, to showcase big, bold florals (or any other theme fabric!), it could even be used for T-shirt quilts! And trust me – it is REALLY SIMPLE to make, even if it may not look like that (all strip-piecing!!).

I will leave you with all this inspiration and hopefully plans to make your own – if you do, please share with me, I would LOVE to see it! (simply email me at contact@maraquuiltdesigns.com or tag me if you are sharing on social media ( @maraquiltdesigns ) )

I hope you are enjoying your summer (or winter if you are Down under like my baby sister!), chat with you soon,

Marija