The Flying Geese Quilt

The Flying Geese Quilt
48" x 64"

This one began with a community service project for the Austin Modern Quilt Guild.  We were asked to make flying geese blocks of any color and donate them.  So, I made some that looked like this: (and donated them)

I had fun making these because they just seem to FLY together (ha! ha!). And that's when I remembered that my old lap quilt made from my very first quilting class was falling apart. 

And, I thought I solved that problem when I made this quilt:

i Quilt

...but the i Quilt went on to bigger and better things, and it is still out on exhibit (Houston QuiltFestival), and I am still cuddling with the worn out thread bare quilt....but I digress. I thought I could whip up the flying geese pattern in no time at all.  I should stop myself right here because quilts don't "whip up" in no time at all.  There is a LOT of work to make a quilt, a lot of decision making, a lot of cutting, and sewing, basting, quilting, and binding.  Every single step takes a lot of time!  But, I like spending my time this way, so I set about to make myself a new lap quilt, for you know, napping between quilt making sessions.  :)
So, I selected a color palette and used fabrics from my stash to make some blocks for my quilt.

Yep!  I like this one.  And when the top was finished, I needed a back and was lacking (once again) enough fabric of just one kind to put on the back, so I pieced another back to make another two sided quilt:

I liked the big scale fabrics and the big scale design.  Fun and fast! (or rather, faster!).  Then I started quilting, 1/4" because it looks good, and what I didn't know at the time was,

that the dense quilting lines, and the small stitch size, and possibly the tension on my machine, made the quilt blocks get distorted.  This quilt was quilted on my Juki Virtuoso Pro with free motion quilting, no walking foot.  I thought it would make a nice practice piece for getting re-acquainted with my giant quilting machine (and it did), but I was honestly surprised at the distortion.  And, my fall back, washing the quilt, or getting it wet, and blocking it did not work.  The quilting lines were so dense and tight that they allowed for absolutely no reshaping or blocking into the correct shape.  It was disappointing that after piecing everything straight, the machine quilting had warped it.  So, I am glad that I have learned something from this experience on a quilt that was not intended to go to the show.  It will be loved and used until it is thread bare.  The colors make me happy!