I know you thought you would never see the finished product. It took me awhile to get a photo of it, but Sunday was the day.
I cleared off my design wall and hung up Flying Around. I had to work quickly as finished quilts are heavy. I wasn’t sure if the design wall could handle it.
I might need to make this design, or a similar one again. I think the Friendship Star wreaths need to be farther apart, so they can be more staggered. That means a larger quilt. I know my friends will sigh at that.
Flying Geese detail
Flying Geese detail
20200510_153932_wm
Flying Geese detail
Red-Violet Friendship Wreath detail
Near Orange Friendship Wreath
Purple Friendship Wreath
The quilting is magnificent. Colleen did a fabulous job. I want to enter this in a big show, but looking at it today, I am not sure it is ready for prime time. Also, are all the shows cancelled?
Gosh this must seem painful to you! I said the other day that I was nearing the end. I am still nearing the end, but even closer! The corner pieces are all cut and I just need to sew them together.
30 seams, maybe?
Then I have to sew the giant chunks together. There is quite a bit of partial seaming, but that is not difficult. I have been doing it all along. Check the tutorial if you need to know how to do partial seaming.
I made good progress on Flying Around over the weekend. I am nearing the end, which I know I keep saying, but it is true. That orange Friendship Star is together and I am working on the corner. Lots of cutting required there.
I really worked hard on Flying Around this past Labor Day Weekend. I really wanted to finish the top, but made sure that I focused on it looking good rather than finishing.
I am not 100% sure I am happy with that center section. It looks like I added a string of Flying Geese that go nowhere. I think I might have put a couple of the geese in out of order. Yep, those will have to be ripped.
Still, the whole thing is progressing and is really shaping up well. I think the Flying Geese look like little fluttering flags. I really want this to be a GREAT quilt. I thought that the Carpenter’s Wheel would be GREAT, but it turned into a disappointment once all was said and done. I am not sure why.
I made good progress on Flying Around over the weekend as well.
It is a lot of piecing, as I have said, so it may not look like much to you.
Flying Around- detail – early September 2019
I wanted to sew the bottom section to one large piece. I may, however, have to sew some of the sections to the upper piece before I do that. There is quite a bit of partial piecing I have to sew.
The top finally got to be too much. I need to sew most of the top together in order to move the whole piece up (and hang some over the top of my design wall), so I can work on the bottom. I have been sitting on the floor, which is fine, but not so fine when the quilt doesn’t fit on the design wall. Pieces in order on the floor doesn’t work.
Background detail – Flying Around
In order to move the whole piece, I had to be certain of all the piecing on the top and sew the whole top section together, perhaps including the red-violet and yellow Friendship Circles. The top middle was bugging me, however.
I finally decided that the Flying Geese were too low. They were supposed to add interest that low, but they just looked weird. Unpicking was in order. It was a hassle, but I did it. Anything for the sake of art, right?
FGs moved up, red FG moved to left
The Flying Geese along edge are supposed to be a border. No, they are not a traditional border, but they are still a border because I say they are. Next, I moved the whole section of Flying Geese up higher. This move was intended to get it more in alignment with the Flying Geese border pieces above the purple and Green Friendship Circles. With this move, I had to move one of the red FGs to the other side of the group.
I don’t know why there is a missing FG between the deep purple and the yellow/pink FGs on the right. That space will have to go. It might have looked arty before. Now, it isn’t right.
That big white space under the new placement is still weird looking. I sewed a piece in. It didn’t look right. Another big space that was not the center of a Friendship Circle just looked wrong.
The answer? More FGs.
Add red FGAdded, moved Flying Geese
I found another red FG, which I thought would work. I think it is looking better. The red dot FG is not yet sewn in. I wanted to see if I could see how it would look before I committed myself. What I think looks strange is the two greens near each other on the right. I don’t know if I will change one of them, but it is a possibility.
I don’t think I will add more Flying Geese to the ‘white’ space. I think I will break it up with different greys and hope that helps.
The other day I showed you most of a photo of Flying Around. After posting that, I started in on the last two Friendship Circles.
Flying Around detail
The placement of these will be tricky for a number of reasons. First, they will be on the floor (see the bottom most red Friendship star? It is right at the bottom of my design wall) as I place them unless I sew together the top and move everything up. I have been wanting to do that, but am waiting because I am not sure I am happy with the top middle of the piece. That big piece of grey at the top is of concern to me. I wonder if it pushes the Flying Geese down too much.
I want the Geese around the edge to act as a border without being a separate entity, but I am not sure that particular section achieves that goal.
Next, I don’t want the ratio of width to length to be too strange. If the piece gets to be too long, it might look too long and skinny. Of course, I am often hampered by the width of my design wall and this is the case with this piece. Sigh. I don’t want to take apart the whole piece and make it wider, so I have to measure and try and estimate how long it will be.
I also need the Flying Geese to wrap around each of the Friendship Circles and there isn’t quite enough space for them to do that with the placement of the red HSTs. You can see that dark Goose near the second Friendship Star; notice how crowded that area appears. Of course, I could move the red Friendship Circle over to the left, but I also don’t want it to be directly below the red-violet circle. I want them to appear randomly placed. The width is really a problem for me.
As you can see, there is still work to do on this piece. I started it sometime in April, I think, so it has been on the wall for a long time. I would like it to be finished, but I also want it to be right.
I dragged myself away from pillowcases and worked on Flying Around as well. I was kind of facing a hump and working on the project this weekend got me over the hump. I actually used the pillowcases as leaders and enders. The small finishes kept me going.
It’s not that I don’t like Flying Around. I like it a lot and think it will be a really good design once I finish. It is a hard quilt to make. There is a lot of thinking required with a dose of extra seam ripping as well.
Flying Around – early August 2019
Still, I am over the hump and am seeing the end of the adventure. The hump was the bottom left corner, currently comprising the red-violet Friendship Circle and the pink Friendship Circle as well.
That corner will end up with a red circle eventually, but I haven’t done the cutting yet.
The upper left corner has been sewn to the center, so there is a big chunk finished. I haven’t quite figured out how to sew the yellow circle to the part above it. Partial seams will be involved, for sure.
In between a lot of work (actual work, the kind I get paid for) and work on the Orange Strip Donation Top, my main project for the weekend was Flying Around. I had a goal of getting the borders on the top part of the quilt finished. The left hand side was easy compared to the right. The right side was difficult, but the border is off the design wall. It’s really annoying how often this problem affects me. I know I should make smaller quilts, but my ideas make it impossible.
The top center is looking a bit weird and I am trying to decide if I need to rip it out. I am thinking that I can move the section right above the blue Friendship Circle up and add some more Flying Geese to connect the ones already there.
Friend Julie talked to me about the piece on Friday and that really helped. Sometimes getting an idea of what others are seeing is a good thing.
Keep in mind as you look at this piece that much of it is not sewn together, so it looks a little weird.
After a few weeks of hiatus, I finally spent some time on this project again this past weekend.
Flying Around- late June 2019
I was feeling bad about Flying Around – sort of uninterested and not getting anything done. What I needed was some time to work on it. This is not a sew and think about something else. This is a thinking project. Every seam I sew requires thought. These types of projects require time and no interruptions.
I got into the groove and made some good progress. I added a purple Friendship Circle, which you can see adds a lot to the piece. It isn’t sewn yet, so we will see some better photos later.
I also sewed some sections together, which makes it look more like a quilt.
Yes, I think I will call this quilt Flying Around.
I was sort of avoiding this project because it is hard. I had the first dedicated time in 2 weeks on which to work and I just decided to do it. Often I decide to sew two pieces together. Two pieces become two more and suddenly I am in the middle of it and enjoying myself. That is what happened on Sunday.
First, I was thrilled to be at my machine again. I loved the travel, but really missed sewing. I did bring some handwork with me, but just didn’t do it.
Second, I was excited to be making progress and I really felt like the part on which I worked just went together. That is not to say I don’t need to do some ripping, but this piece is difficult because I have an idea and not a pattern. Nobody is telling me how to piece it or which piece to put where. It is an intellectual challenge, but it is difficult.
I have to work on the edge of the upper right hand corner. It is off the design wall, so I haven’t concentrated on it. I will need to do so soon, though.
I have been making slow and steady progress on the Flying Geese quilt. I have done a lot of cutting and some sewing.
Flying Geese piece – early May 2019
I am trying make a color wheel effect, though it will be subtle in the finished product. As with FOTY 2017, my design wall isn’t large enough to contain my piece. This means I have had to sew parts together in order to put various parts on the wall. You can see the squished green bits on the right.
I am struggling with keeping pieces in the right place as I sew and the piece shrinks. I experienced the same thing with FOTY 2017 and got through it. I will here, too.
In the course of making this quilt, I had some thoughts about HSTs and update the Triangle Technique tutorial.
Flying Geese Around & Around- in process, April 2019
I spent a very happy day on Sunday working on my Flying Geese quilt. I really have to think of a better name for it, but for now, that is what I am calling it.
This is a difficult quilt on which to work, because when it is unsewn it looks messy and the pieces look out of place. When it is partially sewn, pieces still seem out of place. Still, seeing the Friendship Star block starting to come together is a good thing. It still a bit confusing, because the other pieces around it are not sewn together. I can start to see what is happening with that one section.
Flying Geese Around & Around- in process, detail, April 2019
I am pleased with how the blue section is coming together. I am not sure if I like the Flying Geese so close to the top of the Friendship Stars, but in that case, I guess it looks ok.
You can see, also, that I have cut a lot more of the grey background squares, which is helping to make it possible to put the pieces together.
This piece is making me think about Kelly’s Round Robin. I don’t know if she every put it together or what she thought of my work. Anyway the piece has been on my mind.
I was a very good girl on Sunday and spent most of my sewing time making sleeves. I am entering a couple of quilts in the Fair and they need sleeves. Also FOTY 2017, now finished will need a sleeve. Since I was doing finishing tasks anyway, I made a sleeve for it as well.
Flying Geese – Mid May 2015
Partway through the drudgery, I decided to branch away from my UFOs and project lists. I decided to start on a new, fresh quilt project that I designed. I decided I would set the Flying Geese from the exchange I did. the photo, left, is a selection of the FGs I made and received in the exchange.
I thought a lot about designs and looked at many inspirational photos of Flying Geese blocks. I was particularly enamored of a block shown by Moda that has its roots in the Dutchman’s Puzzle block, a block I like very much and is usually in my sampler quilts. I created the design on my way home from the North Coast while DH drove. I was inspired by the Round and Round quilt by Camille Roskelly and have incorporated her reimagining of the Friendship Star block into my design. I am really excited about it, especially now that some FGs are on the design wall.
Flying Geese Exchange Quilt – starting design work
So, as I was working on the sleeves, which, have I mentioned, can be quite tedious, I did little tasks on the FGEQ (not sure what I will name this quilt yet). First, I got out the boxes of FGs. Then I printed the design, then with FOTY 2017 off the design wall, I started following my design to put FGs in place on the design wall. The photo doesn’t make it look like much, but getting all the FGs on the design wall helped me realize that I needed also to put the HSTs on the design wall. I thought I could hold off, but I needed to do it.
Flying Geese with Friendship Star blocks
Using my Triangle Technique, I starting making HSTs. I just thought I would make a few to get the idea, but the more I made, the more I wanted. This quilt is evolving in such an exciting way. The layout of the Flying Geese does work! That is really great. The Friendship Star blocks really fit in. They look great.
I used some Queen Street fabrics I had leftover from my Queen Street mania from a few years ago and the BAMQG IRR. I have started in on a selection of those for the blue area. I am thinking of a color wheel kind of effect, though I don’t know if I will put them in color order.
There will be a lot of fiddly sewing and, perhaps some partial seams to get this baby together. I posted the last picture on IG and got some great responses. I can’t wait to see how it looks with more finished.
Right now I know I have to face the following challenges:
Sizing everything. Math isn’t my forte and I think I have selected a size HST that will fit with the FGs, but one can never be sure.
Right now it looks like I have more than plenty Flying Geese. What do to with the extras will be something to consider. I’d like to use them all, but that may not be possible. There could be possibilities for a half border or something.
Perhaps I should double up the FGs so they stand out more? That is a ‘make visual decisions visually’ problem and I will have to look and see.
How big? I want to put more Friendship Star blocks in the corners. Will that make the quilt too big?
