Saturday, March 19, 2016

Geese in a Monkey Wrench - Challenge 6 of Project Quilting

Happy National Quilting Day!!


I have participated in most of the project quilting challenges from Persimon Dreams. This is my first year participating. It was a blast! I can wait for next year and new challenges.

I started this challenge with the thought that I wanted to combine the monkey wrench and flying geese in a sneaky way. I started with just the center monkey wrench with the geese hidden in the center. Then I remembered seeing a picture captioned "how many flying geese?" and added the outer corners. Then I colored my drawing using my favorite colors (which I have a TON of fabric of).

I believe that your first solution to a problem isn't always the best, soil draw it again but colored it different.
 I also wanted to try doing a positive/negative block and flipped some of the outer geese. I thought that I was satisfied with the design, so started to figure out the sizes of pieces I needed to cut. I figured too different sizes; one with a 2" center and one with a 4" center.
 I left the drawings alone for half a day. When I looked at the drawings again, I decided with a little help, that I like how the border geese on the last drawing give a pointed frame and liked the colors from my first drawing. So, I drew it one more time.

Next, I picked out fabrics from my stash that matched the colors I planned in my drawing.
 I found an awesome tutorial on how to make flying geese 4 at a time! It was super easy that way, and perfect because I had 4 or 8 to make of each kind.
I have made lots of half square triangles before, and decided to use the 4 at a time method since I needed four.
 Here are all the sections - flying geese, half square triangles (for the monkey wrench), and solid pieces.
 I chain piece as much as possible. I feel like it makes everything go quickly and I like how it keeps the pieces in order. I wanted the fabrics to speak for themselves, so a stitched in the ditch to quilt it. I also like how then the front is ghosted on the back.
I really enjoy how it turned out! The finished piece is 16" x 16". I plan on using it as a table topper or possibly a wall hanging.


I create near Madison, WI.