Girlfriend Stars

 Did you watch our Facebook Live on August 1st? It's still up there if you want to check out what we did in honor of NATIONAL GIRLFRIEND DAY! We took the very simple Friendship Star block, added a twist (pun intended) and swapped them. 

Hurray for GirlFriends!

OK - sew, you made a bunch of blocks - now what?

I sewed mine (and Marjorie's) together in a straight 4 x 5 grid (no sashing). Then it was framed with a 2" inner border (from strips cut 2.5"). 

THEN - I made a whole lot of positive/negative Flying Geese pairs. 62 pairs = 124 units.

Stacked flying geese border!

Yes, they are a bit time consuming but totally worth it. Flying Geese is probably my favoite pieced unit. I have said many times - I am not a precision stitcher. I love to make units that are a bit oversized and then I can square-up to the exact size needed.

For me - Flying Geese can be expecially challenging to make accurately. They end up with either a saggy belly (the big triangle) and/or whacky wings (the 2 smaller triangles).

enter - BLOC LOC rulers!

I dearly love a great specialty ruler that gives me the results I want. Yes, they are a bit pricey. Yes, the Flying Geese ruler is a specific size - I have 4 different sizes because I make this unit a lot. Yes, there might be what some think of as waste - but ... I use the cut-offs so for me - it's not waste, it's a bonus!

There are lots of tutorials available online for making this unit. I'm showing you the quick and easy way. For specifics - Goggle it or even better ... get a Bloc Loc Ruler, it comes with great instructions.

I keep these pairs together every step of the way. Once they're stitched together into a Stacked Geese unit - into the pile they go. I need 62 of these beauties.

All those BONUS TRIANGLES ... I keep them together in sets of 4 matches. I stitch them up as "in-between" sewing. Bonnie Hunter calls them - Leaders and Enders.

When I have a spare minute, while talking on the phone or waiting for the water to boil (that's a joke - I don't cook much), I trim them up to 1.5" x 1.5". Again ... keeping the 4 matching triangles together.

Eventually, I will have a BUNCH of little Bear's Paw blocks all stitched up and ready for ... something. But that's a post for another day.

The Artimus lauch was scrubbed this morning. So much anticipation and excitment. Hopefully it will fly on Friday.  In the meantime, here's a picture from our trip to New England. 

Keep Stitching,

Mary