Lupine & Laughter Mystery - Part Two!

It's Friday!!  It's Lupine Mystery, Part Two Day!

I hope you are ready to really dig in today.

I've spent some time writing some parts ahead with all that is going on with my family - and as this posts my life is full of travelers and airports and amazing destinations!

Of course, this also means I'm flying by the seat of my pants and hoping that there are no hiccups, no misdirected or broken links and that all is going along swimmingly until I once again can connect to hotel Wi-Fi from Bavaria. 

Remember - it's not a race, we are taking things as they come with this mystery season, and if all else fails I'll fix it when I get home. Is there some holiday baking that you can do in the meantime? I'm sure there is.

Some of the buildings we saw on our walking tour of Reykjavik!

The building on the right is the Parliament, built in 1880-1991 on Austurvöllur square.

It is one of the oldest parliamentary institutions in the world, first established in 930 AD.  The structure was designed by Danish architect Ferdinand Meldahl and is built from hewn Icelandic dolerite.

Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason (14 December 1867 – 30 October 1941) was an Icelandic politician, suffragist, schoolteacher and gymnast. She was the first woman to become a member of the Althing, the parliament of Iceland.

Soaking in all of the tales from our Icelandic guide!

Lovely building colors! And more to come!

But for now - let's sew!

What are we working on this week?

Click HERE for Part Two PDF.

Flying Geese in two color ways!
These units will measure 2 1/2'' X 4 1/2'' unfinished and finish at 2'' X 4'' in the quilt.
Make 72 with neutral base triangles and purple wings, and 72 with pink base triangles with neutral wings.
No sets, just match the wings on each goose.

Traditional Rotary Cutting:

Neutral Base/Purple Wings:

From neutral fabric cut 18 squares 5 1/4'’. Slice on the diagonal from corner to corner twice with an X to yield 72 quarter-square base triangles.

From purple fabric cut 36 squares 2 7/8’’. Slice each square once on the diagonal to yield 8 wing triangles. 

Pink Base/Neutral Wings:

From pink fabric cut 18 squares 5 1/4'’. Slice on the diagonal from corner to corner twice with an X to yield 72 quarter-square base triangles.

From neutral fabric cut 36 squares 2 7/8’’. Slice each square once on the diagonal to yield 8 wing triangles. 

Assembly for these units is the same as the Essential Triangle Tool method below.

Using the Essential Triangle Tool will have you cutting easily from strips, saving time and increasing your piecing accuracy. 

Neutral Base/Purple Wings shown:

Cutting Quarter -square Triangles 

Unlike having to cut 5 1/4'’ and 2 7/8’ squares as in the traditional rotary cutting method above, I used my Essential Triangle Tool to cut the quarter-square and half-square triangles from 2 1/2’’ strips. 

2 1/2’’ strips are something I keep readily on hand so I can easily go to my strip stash and pull what I need.

To cut quarter-square triangles, place the fourth green line from the top (Look for the 2 1/2’’ strip width marking down the center in green) at the bottom edge of the strip with the green line ON the red fabric, not below it on the mat.  

Trim 2 sides as shown. The upper tip of the ruler will extend above the top of the strip just a bit creating a flat spot at the top of the cut triangle. This flat spot becomes a placement guide. 

Pivot the ruler, placing that fourth green line at the top of the strip, ON the fabric. Cut.

Cut as many different base triangles from each fabric as you wish. I found 6 to 8 from each strip to be just right for the variety I wanted. Cut 72 neutral base triangles.

Cutting Wing Triangles:

Fold a 2 1/2’’ purple strip with right sides together so you are cutting through two layers. Right sides together is needed as we are cutting in mirror image pairs.

Square off one end of the strip set. 

Using the third red line for 2’’ finished half-square triangles, place the red line ON the fabric at the top of the strip set (Don’t place the line on the mat above the fabric or you will be one line-width too small.) and make a cut.

Pivot the ruler, placing the 2’’ finished red line on the bottom of the neutral strip set and cut.

Each cut gives you 2 mirror image half-square triangles, enough for one flying geese unit.

Pivot the ruler again and cut for the third and fourth pair of matching triangles, right sides together. 

Cut as many different pairs of wing triangles from each fabric as you wish. I found 6 to 8 from each strip to be just right for the variety I wanted. Cut 72 pairs of wing triangles.

Neutral base triangles and purple wing triangles ready to assemble.

Trimmed corner to trimmed corner!

All of the notched corners go at the top of the unit – the flat spot on the top of the base triangle becomes a placement guide.

Start with the right wing first! 

Place the right wing triangle on top of the base triangle with right sides facing. Align the bottom edge and the diagonal.

 

Stitch. Gently press toward the base triangle so as not to distort it.  Trim dog ears. 

Be consistent with always stitching the right wing triangle on first and pressing that seam allowance under toward the base triangle. 

Add the left wing triangle in the same manner. Press toward the wing triangle. Remove dog ears and trim to 2 1/2'’ X 4 1/2’’ as needed. Make 72 units with neutral base triangles and 2 purple wing triangles. (from the same pair)

I know that folks love to talk "scant" - but be careful when sewing these. Seams that are "too scant" will not leave you with a 1/4'' seam allowance at the top of your unit. You'll lose your point in the next seam. Or your unit will be too big and you'll lose it when you trim.

The only scant that is the "right" scant is the one that takes you to unit size without losing your margins.

From the back - units should look like this.

Repeat this process cutting 72 base triangles from pink fabrics and 72 pairs of wing triangles from neutral fabrics.

Remember to start with the right hand wing triangle first.

Press the first seam toward the pink base triangle.

Seams when pressed will look like this on the back.

More Flying Geese Options:

(Without Essential Triangle Tool)

You can make flying geese units with neutral 2 1/2’’ X 4 1/2'’ base rectangles with 2 1/2’’ corner squares to become wing triangles in a stitch & flip method.

This method creates quite a bit of waste, but if it works for you – GREAT! Please remember that you may need more fabric yardage if you use methods like this.

Drawn Lines or Simple Folded Corners Method:

For each unit:

Cut 1 base  rectangle 2 1/2'' X 4 1/2'' (either neutral or pink)

Cut 2 wing squares 2 1/2'' (purple or neutral depending upon the unit)

Cut enough for 72 neutral/purple and 72 pink/neutral units.

Draw a line from corner to corner on the back of each of the wing squares.

Place a square in the right hand corner of the rectangle with right sides together and the angle in this direction from rectangle center to bottom right corner.

Place the sewing machine needle just barely to the RIGHT of the drawn line into what will be the seam allowance.

The drawn line is not the seam line. It is the FOLD line where your fabric has to fold up and over the thread to reach the edges of the base unit. DO NOT SEW ON THE LINE. Sew next to it.

Sew slowly, and carefully. Press.

*Pressing Tip! *

Instead of pressing blindly from the fold toward the corner, align the edges of the triangle you are pressing even with the edges of the base rectangle FIRST. Once these are even, press down on your unit. This will block your unit to help it keep its shape and size.

 

Once blocked correctly, fold triangle back and trim seam allowance 1/4'' from stitching. 

Remember to start with the right wing triangle and press the seam allowance under toward the base rectangle after trimming to press.

Repeat to add the opposite corner, pressing the trimmed seam allowance toward the left triangle just added.

Repeat the process for the remaining side of each unit. Make 72 in each color way: neutral with purple wings and pink with neutral wings.

Don’t like drawing lines?

This is where the Simple Folded Corners or Simple Folded Corners Mini come into play.

Start as with the basic Stitch & Flip method above, but instead of drawing a diagonal line, place the 1/4'' line on the diagonal of the Simple Folded Corners ruler (mini shown) on the diagonal of the corner square and trim leaving 1/4'' seam allowance.

Remember to sew just shy of 1/4'' because the FOLD has to happen on the diagonal of the square for the triangle to reach where it needs to go. A couple of tests should help you adjust where you need to sew to achieve unit size.

After the first corners of all the units are sewn on and pressed under, take them back to the cutting table to put the next corner squares in place, trim, sew and press toward the left wing triangle.

View from the back side.

There is more than one way to make a successful flying geese unit!

Repeat after me:

72 units in each color way: Neutral with purple wings, and Pink with neutral wings. that's 144 flying geese total.

Units will measure 2 1/2'' X 4 1/2'' at this point.

If the method you use creates more fabric waste, you may need more fabric.

A sampling of my cuties!

Okay - that's it for this week. We'll see you back here next Friday, December 5th for our next round of fun.

And while I'm off to the airport for New York today to meet up with our Craftours group and head to Germany and Austria for the Christmas Markets on Saturday, I'm leaving you with this:

While Bonnie's Away Pattern Sale!
While I'm gone, all PDF patterns in the  Quiltville Store are automatically 30% off - no coupon code needed!
This is the only time of year I do 30% off, so it's a great time to stock up on patterns you have wanted.
This automatic discount is good until 11:30pm Eastern on 12/8/25 the day of my return.
I'm so grateful for the community we have built here and that includes having YOU in it!
I may not be posting much here on the blog while I'm gone, but you can always catch up with my posts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube and sometimes Threads.
We'll catch up more when I get back -

Quiltville Quote of the Day -
Put a little gratitude, joy and happiness in every stitch you take!
Happy Sewing, everyone!

 

This mystery pattern is given for personal use only. 

No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical including printing or photocopying for sharing, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the author.

Please no uploading and saving of this file with intent to share, email or distribute, either digitally or in hard copy. 

This is a reader appreciation mystery, something I give back to my readers for their support over the years.

Please help me continue to design and show your support by sending your friends to my blog to print their own copy. 

Please check out my other designs found in the Quiltville Store where my books (paperback) notions, tools, and other goodies along with my digital patterns are found right at your fingertips.