April Showers bring May flowers and Half Square Triangles!! Hopefully it will be another quick month for everyone with their blocks. 

We’re going to make (3) different block types using half square triangles (HST), background squares and our three leftover flying geese from last month. 

Block 1: 

Block 2: 

And Block 3: 

This month you will need your background fabric and Colors 1, 2, 3, and 5

Cutting: 

Background squares: 

(5) 4 ½” squares of the background fabric

For the HSTs: 

(1)  5” square of Color 1.  

(3)  5” square of Color 2. 

(1)  5” square of Color 3.  

(4)  5” square of Color 5.  

(9)  5” Squares of the background fabric

Step 1: Stack your 5” squares, (1) Color piece and (1) Background piece, right sides together.  

Step 2: Use a pen or chalk pencil to draw a line from corner to corner as a guide for your stitching. Then sew a ¼” seam on each side of your line. (This is a good spot to chain stitch again with the two squares)

Step 3: Cut along the line you drew in the previous step.

Step 4: Open the triangles and iron with seam allowances open. Do this for both halves.

Step 5: Trim all the blocks to 4 ½” x 4 ½” squares. 

Step 6: Now we will start putting the blocks together starting with Block 1. There are (3) Block 1s to make using Colors 2 and 5, (1) in Color 2 and (2) in Color 5. 

Sew together (2) HSTs with both HSTs oriented in the same direction as shown below. 

Step 7: Sew together (1) HST and (1) of the background squares oriented as shown below. 

Step 8: Sew the two pieces from Steps 6 and 7 together. Repeat for the three blocks. 

Step 9: Now we will move to piecing Block 2. There is only (1) Block 2 in Color 5. 

Sew together (1) HST and (1) of the background squares oriented as shown below. Do this twice. 

 

Step 10: Sew the two pieces from Step 9 together with the triangle points touching as shown below. 

Step 11: Now we will move to piecing Block 3. This Block finishes the unfinished flying geese blocks from last month. There are three of these blocks in Colors 1, 2 and 3. 

Sew together (2) HSTs with both HSTs oriented in the same direction as shown below. Repeat for each of the (3) colors. 

Step 12: Sew the piece from Step 11 and the flying geese block from last month together as shown below. Repeat for each of the (3) colors. 

And with that, we’re done! Another month of blocks complete! 

It’s March! Can you believe it? Obviously, I wasn’t ready for March since I’m a day late posting this months blocks… This month we are making Flying Geese Blocks!

We’re going to make the blocks (or part of the blocks shown above). You will need your background fabric and colors 1, 2, 3 and 4. 

Cutting: 

For the (2) four at a time flying geese cut: 

(2) 9 ½” squares out of the Color 1 fabric. This will be the ‘triangle fabric’

(8) 5 ½” Squares of the background fabric

For the (5) one at a time flying geese cut: 

(1) 5” x 9” rectangle of Color 1.  This will be the ‘triangle fabric’

(1)  5” x 9” rectangle of Color 2.  This will be the ‘triangle fabric’

(1)  5” x 9” rectangle of Color 3.  This will be the ‘triangle fabric’

(2)  5” x 9” rectangle of Color 4.  This will be the ‘triangle fabric’

(10) 5” Squares of the background fabric

The first block we are going to make is the double flying geese block. It looks like a quadruple flying geese block, but we’re going to split it into (2) double flying geese. These are going to be made using the background fabric and Color 1 fabric using the 4 blocks a time technique..

This month, I switched gears to make this tutorial in diagrams rather than photos. Hopefully, you like the diagrams and they make sense! 

Step 1- Layout your large squares with 2 of the smaller squares situated on top as shown below. You will want to clip the overlap between of the smaller squares. You can clip these with scissors or lay it out on your cutting mat and cut there. 

Step 2: Use a pen or chalk pencil to draw a line from corner to corner as a guide for your stitching. Then sew a ¼” seam on each side of your line. (This is a good spot to chain stitch again with the two squares)

Step 3: Cut along the line you drew in the previous step.

Step 4: Open the triangles and iron with seam allowances open. Do this for both halves.

Step 5: Add another 5 ½” block in the corner, draw your guide line from corner to corner. Then sew a ¼” seam allowance on each side of the line. (Another opportunity to chain stitch with the other half of you finished in Step 3.)

Step 6: Cut along the drawn line.

Step 7: You now have (2) flying geese blocks, (4) with the other half. Iron you seam allowances open.

Step 8: Trim all the blocks to 4 ½” x 8 ½” blocks with ¼” at the point of the triangle.

Step 9: Repeat all the steps for the other half if you haven’t already done it. Now you have the 8 flying geese blocks. Sew them into pairs. You’ll end up with (4) 8 ½” blocks. You are done with these for now. We’ll sew them together later in the year.

Next up is the 1 at a time flying geese blocks. We are going to do this process 5 times, or get yourself set up do it with chain stitching since you already cut everything (my preference). 

   

We’re going to make the block on the right and the flying geese blocks for the blocks on the right. 

Step 1: Layout your large rectangle with 1 of the smaller squares situated on top as shown below. You are going to mark the diagonal line from corner to corner to help you stay straight. Then sew right over that line. (insert chain stitching recommendation here!)

Step 2: Cut the corners off, ¼” off of the sewn line. Save those corners! 

Step 3: Iron with seam allowances open. 

Step 4: Basically, you are going to repeat steps 1-3 on the other corner with another 5” square of the background fabric. You are going to mark the diagonal line from corner to corner to help you stay straight. Then sew right over that line.

Step 5: Cut the corners off, ¼” off of the sewn line. Save those corners! 

Step 6: Iron with seam allowances open. 

Step 7: Trim all the blocks to 4 ½” x 8 ½” blocks with ¼” at the point of the triangle.

Step 8: You are done with the blocks in Colors 1, 2, and 3. Sew your (2) Color 4 blocks together, point to point. 

That’s it for this month! Yay! 

I'm so excited that you are, like, going to sew along with me! Let's get started! 

After you pick your fabric, we’re going to work on these blocks this month- 

You will make 2 blocks in Color 3, 1 block in Colors 1, 4 and 5 for a total of 5 blocks. 

Here we go! 

Cutting: 

(5) 9” squares from your background fabric.

(1) 3 ¼” x 12 ½” rectangle from Color 1

(2) 3 ¼” x 12 ½” rectangle from Color 3

(1) 3 ¼” x 12 ½” rectangle from Color 4

(1) 3 ¼” x 12 ½” rectangle from Color 5

Step 1 - Cut the 9” square into two triangles. Cut line is ¼” offset from corner to corner of the block for a 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 2- Sew the color rectangle to the larger triangle (the one with the 1/4 seam allowance). I suggest chain piecing. 

Step 3- Press the seam allowance. I prefer to press my seams open for this block. 

Step 4- Align the corners of the two triangles. Sew the smaller triangle to the other side of the rectangle. Chain piecing again! 

Step 5- Press the seam allowance.

Step 6- Trim the block to 8 ½”.  

Step 7- Repeat each step for the 5 blocks if you haven’t chained pieced as you go. 

And then you'll have your first 5 blocks! I think it will take you longer to pick your fabric than make these 5 blocks, especially if you chain piece as you go!