July Block Lotto: Sand and Surf Flying Geese Chevron

As I write this post, the 112‎° outdoor temperature surpassed balmy quite a few hours ago and the weather forecast predicts a rise in temperature in the coming days.

Time to migrate to a beachier location. If not in real life, then at least in our sewing rooms while we make our Block Lotto Sand & Surf Flying Geese Chevron blocks.

Here’s how the Block Lotto works:

1. Make one (or more) quilt blocks following the pattern and color palette in this post. For every block you make and bring to that month’s meeting, you get one entry in the lotto.
2. The winner gets all the blocks. If there are enough entries, IEMQG reserves the right to split the blocks between more than one winner.
3. Winners must bring a completed quilt (or other project) to Sew & Tell in order to be eligible to win again, but may still contribute to the block pool each month.

Ready? Then let’s go!

First, look through your stash for sand and surf colors. Two sand, two surf. Solids, blenders, prints, and modern batiks are all great choices. Lynn Hanna and I have shared some travel pics for inspiration.

If you’d like to create a palette from your own favorite tropical destination, just go to Play Craft’s Palette Builder, where you can upload your photo and get your own personal beachy fabric palette.

Now that we have our fabrics chosen, let’s get started!

Flying Geese Chevron block
by Laura West Kong ©2016
6″ finished / 6-1/2″ unfinished

Cut one 6-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ rectangle from the Geese fabric in sand and one in surf.
Cut two 3-1/2″ squares from the Background fabric in sand and two in surf.

Lay a Sand Background square on a Surf Geese rectangle, right sides together. Pin if desired and sew on the drawn line. Use a slightly shorter stitch length to prevent the stitches from coming out.
TIP: Sew from the middle towards the outer corner as shown below left to prevent the fabric from getting caught under the throat plate. Repeat with a Surf Background square and a Sand Geese rectangle.
OPTIONAL: For bonus half-square triangle blocks, sew another line 1/2″ away from the drawn line on the outer/corner side as shown below right.

Cut the excess triangles off as shown below left. (That’s 1/4″ away from the drawn line or between the two sewn lines if you are making the bonus half-square triangles). Press open.

Place the remaining Sand background square on the Surf Geese rectangle unit right sides together as shown below with the drawn/sewn lines coming together in a 45° point as shown below. The lines should not be parallel. Sew along the drawn line as you did in Step 4 (and 1/2″ away from the drawn line if you are making the bonus half-square triangle blocks). Repeat with the remaining Surf Background square and Sand Geese rectangle unit.

Cut and press as you did in Step 5. You may trim the dog ears off the bonus half-square triangle blocks and set them aside to use improvisationally in another project.

You now have two flying geese units, one with a Surf Goose/Sand Background and one with a Sand Goose/Surf Background.

Sew them right sides together with a 1/4″ seam allowance with the Surf Goose on top and the Sand Goose on bottom as shown below left. When you sew two or more blocks together, you will get the pattern shown below right.

The fun part comes when you have a bunch of blocks to play around with different modern layouts. Best of luck to all Block Lotto entrants!