A few weekends ago, I was thumbing through issue 5 of Love Patchwork & Quilting when I came across a table runner made from modified flying geese blocks.  I showed it to M and he agreed that the block would be great for the new bed quilt we've been discussing.

I've been wanting to try out the block on a smaller project first, so when I found out that in April the Houston Modern Quilt Guild members are swapping pillow covers, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I'd initially intended to make the pillow cover with Sherbet Pips paired with black Heath by Alexander Henry.  Then I got all OCD about the direction of the prints.  Instead I pulled out some fat eighths of Jay McCarroll's Habitat to play with.

I bought this Quilt in a Day flying geese ruler a couple years ago, but never took it out of the package.  Until last night.  Ugh! It's AMAZING and I could kick myself for not using it before!



It's sooooooo easy-just cut two squares, layer them as depicted below.  Draw a diagonal from left to right, then stitch 1/4" on either side, cut on the drawn line, and press.  Then you realign your two resulting pieces, draw another diagonal, sew, cut and press again.  Finally you use the ruler to cut out TWO flying geese units from each piece.  That's right! You end up with FOUR flying geese from your two starter squares, and there's very little wasted fabric!  And your geese are perfect!





I'll have my pillow cover finished in no time!