2021 Mystery Quilt Along Month 5

We are moving on from curves for a little while (but don’t worry, after last month, the last set will be easy peasy lemon squeezy). We will be working on the center section of the quilt this month, giving you a little clue as to the finished layout. If you missed last month and don’t have your blue and white curves sewn together yet, head back to month 4.

2021 Mystery Quilt Along Month 4

We’ve shared this method for flying geese before and that’s simply because it’s our absolute favorite. It’s so quick and easy and there is no trimming up afterwards, and of course, no waste. All parts of the fabric are used, and we are all about that. It helps to minimize cost up front, and second, makes sure our scrap bins don’t get fuller than they already are!

Something to keep in mind. We will be working on different parts of the quilt throughout the year, it’s not a block by block design. We recommend finding a container or bag to keep all the parts in so they are easy to find each month.

 

Sharing pictures?  Use #sparkmysteryquilt and don’t forget to tag us @onwilliamsstreet when posting on social media so we don’t miss it.

The quilt finishes at about 60×72″. You can find all of the fabric requirements and color suggestions in month one.

Missing a step? Find all blog posts on our main Quilt Along Page.

Spark Mystery Quilt Along 2021

Fabric

This month we are going to use the squares we’ve cut previously, but we do need to step back and do a little size correction first.

Previously we miscalculated and cut our pieces a little big. So grab the 12 – 6 1/2″ white squares and recut them to 5 7/8″ square. Next grab your 13″ blue and yellow squares and trim them to 11 1/4″ square. The final step we need to prepare our fabric is to take your purple fabric and cut 1 – 11 1/4″ square from it. Just take it out of the corner, don’t cut a strip first. We want to leave most of this intact for next month!

Making the Flying Geese

For each set of flying geese, we are going to need one of the big squares, and 4 of the white squares. The colored fabric will make up the goose part, and the white will become the background.

First, lay one white square in a corner of the big colored square, lining up the edges. Next, lay a second white square in the opposite corner of the big square. They will overlap in the center a little bit.

Now draw a line from corner to corner over the top of the white squares. You can use fabric pens, pencils, or a chalk marker for this, or if you have none of those, a pencil works just as well. This line won’t show on the quilt later. We do not recommend using a ball point pen, even though the markings will only be on the inside seam, some of the ink will remain and we can’t guarantee it won’t bleed over time. Add a couple pins to keep the squares in place and then sew 1/4″ seam down either side of the line.

Cut your squares in half directly on the line you drew. Iron the white squares up.

Next, lay another white square on the remaining corner of one half. Draw a line from corner to corner, sew 1/4″ on either side, and cut on the line.

Repeat with the second half. Press the white triangles up and you now have 4 matching flying geese!

Repeat this process until you have used all of the colored squares and have 12 flying geese. The geese should be 5 1/2 x 10 1/2″ and will finish at 5×10″ once sewn all together in the quilt.

The next step is to sew all the flying geese together in one row. Sew them in a pattern, but the order of colors doesn’t really matter. To help line up the blocks and not lose the points, it is helpful to sew them together with the point on top. This will allow you to see where the seam is and so you can make sure you don’t sew over that point. You’ll want your stitch line to just go right over the top of it. This is the reason we iron our white points up, it makes it really easy to see where that point is for connecting them!

And that’s it! We are done for this month. Set everything aside and we’ll be back in a few weeks with more.

We will be finishing up the top in a few months, and then we’ll work clear through making a backing, basting, quilting, and binding the top! By the end of the year, you’ll have a completed quilt all ready for snuggling.

As always, if you have any questions ask! We are here to help. Happy Quilting!

Kimie and Missy