Castle Secrets Block of the Week Quilt Mystery Clue One

This is a Quilt-Block-of-the-Month Mystery series. It started June 4. Clues will be presented every Sunday from now until Labor Day. It is a two color (plus background) quilt that finishes about 90″ x 90″. Look for a list of clues at the bottom of this page. To print this clue, use the green Print Friendly button below those clues. If that doesn’t work, try pressing down the CNTRL button and the P button at the same time. Or the COMMAND button and the P button if you are on a Mac. That should bring up the printer dialog.

Just a reminder: Anyone who sends me a picture of their quilt in progress or finished, gets a free copy of the professional pattern after the mystery is over. Offer expires 10/1/23. Send your pictures to phoebemoondesigns@gmail.com.

Clue One: Flying Geese Quilt Blocks

Because this block is so small, I am going to suggest the sew-n-flip method.

Here is a generic tutorial:

A Traditional Method of Making a Flying Goose Block

This is a traditional method of making Flying Geese Blocks. In this method, you sew a square on one side of a rectangle using a diagonal seam, then flip it over to create one side of the Flying Goose block. Press to the square. After you have double-checked to make sure everything lines up properly, cut off the excess underneath that square. Then repeat the process for the other side.

To use this method, cut a rectangle for the goose (shown in yellow) and two squares for the sky (shown in blue.) Cut the squares for the sky the same size as the height of the unfinished rectangle. Remember that the finished size will be 1/4″ smaller all the way around the rectangle due to the seam allowance. In other words, a 2-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ rectangle and (2) 2-1/2″ squares will be needed to make a 2″ x 4″ finished goose.

Draw a line on the diagonal on the wrong side of the sky square (shown in blue below.) Lining up the corners of the square with the edges of the goose rectangle (shown in yellow below), pin carefully and sew on the drawn line as shown. Cut off the excess and press. Do the other side, overlapping the first square. Press and trim all dog ears.

Make a test block first.  If you are comfortable with the procedure, you can chain stitch these by doing the first step of all the blocks before going on to the second step.

The 64 Flying Geese Quilt Blocks for Castle Secrets

Read through these directions before you start! Please note that I increased the number of strips to the chocolate and the background on 7/2 in response to a suggestion for accommodating smaller WOFs.

This set of Flying Geese are small. If you have a Stripology or Shape Cut ruler, you will be very pleased with yourself. These Flying Geese UNfinish at 2″ x 3-1/2″. To use the method above, you will need to cut:

• (14) strips 3-1/2″ wide by the Width of the Fabric of the Chocolate Fabric. Cut these into (64) 2″ x 3-1/2″ rectangles to use for the goose. (The yellow in the graphic above.) Save the rest of the strips to use later in the mystery
• (34) strips 2″ wide by the Width of the Fabric of the Background Fabric. Cut these strips into (128) 2″ squares to use for the wings. (The blue in the graphic above.) Save the rest of the strips to use later in the mystery.
• If you are using a different method for making Flying Geese, cut for that method and not this one! Check out these tutorials: Using the Quilt-in-a-Day Flying Goose Ruler; Using the Wing Clipper or No-Math Ruler; and Using the One-Seam Method. The fabric works out to about the same no matter what method you use.
• If you prefer to paper piece your Geese, download and print out a copy of this PDF. If the blocks unfinish at 2″ x 3-1/2″, go ahead and print out 10 more copies. If not, you may need to adjust the settings on your printer.

That’s it! Make 64 blocks, press and square them up if necessary, and rest. The next clue will be easy, I promise. Take the time to put your clues in baggies or some other method of sorting so you can keep them all numbered.