On The Second Week of Allietare

I made it through week #2 of Bonnie Hunter's Allietare Mystery Quilt. I am really enjoying the process and the camaraderie to be found with other "Thread Warriors" as I've named them. There is an active FaceBook page called Quiltville's Open Studio. Quilters post pictures of their progress on this mystery quilt. They post pictures of completed quilts and "what's under the needle". They ask questions and answer questions. I have found the group to be so supportive and absolutely nonjudgmental. Here is a link to Bonnie's blog, Quiltville's Quips & Snips.

One part of the clue for this week required us to make 80 pieces that look like stretched out 'flying geese'.  Bonnie explained two different ways to make them, one using two special triangular rulers, the "Easy Angle" and the "Companion Angle".  The other method is sewing on the diagonals of two squares placed on either end of a rectangle. I chose to use the rulers.

For those of you who haven't quilted, The red triangles with gold triangular corners are flying geese. (This is not the mystery quilt. This is one block from a sampler quilt I finished last spring.)

Here are the 'stretched' out flying geese from the mystery quilt. All 80 of them!

Quite a few of my geese came out slightly misshapen. It shouldn't be a problem when I piece them in the quilt, as long as I measure each piece, and on the worst, draw seam lines. I think I worked a bit too quickly, and sewing on the bias can cause fabric to stretch, even on such small pieces. There were a lot of suggestions for avoiding this problem on the FaceBook page. Some folks suggested always pressing on flannel. The tooth of the flannel helps hold the cloth. We were reminded to 'press' - not twist with the iron. Some ladies mentioned spray starching the fabric before cutting and sewing. It was also mentioned that when one is sewing on the bias, the presser foot should be lifted, and put down at the point where you want to sew. You shouldn't let the pieces feed into the machine. All very interesting. All great pointers for the next time! I have already learned so much!

Bonnie suggested that the pieces might be headless geese! Many of the quilters in her group felt they really are little Santa's.

What do you think?!

To recap:

(sing along to the tune of the Twelve Days of Christmas)

On the first week of the mystery quilt 

Dear Bonnie gave to me,

Two hundred ninety-four HST's.

On the second week of the mystery quilt 

Dear Bonnie gave to me,

80 headless geese,

and

Two hundred ninety-four HST's!