Reetzbobeetz wrote:
Rita, let me know if I can help you spend any more money...

Well just in case I have spent all my money ( for the next couple of years ) at IQFOI and can't get to Birmingham in August I have ordered that book you recommended Renata. I await it's arrival in the post with baited breath

Rita, I can send you a sample that is made up to the stage where you press it. You can see exactly how it's constructed. It would save you the trip to Birmingham. ....... But if you come to Birmingham, I'll be waiting, ready for a big hug!

crocus999...I am sure you will get a lot out of Deb Tucker's class. She taught for many years at the Fletcher Farm School for the Arts and Crafts in Vermont. I would spend five days in August every summer for four years taking classes from Deb. She let me think I could learn how to do this quilting thing and then helped me do it. I would not be quilting today if I had not met her. I realize her focus might be a little different now, what with promoting her tools and all, but her patience and knowledge I am sure, is what it always was...great.
(A side note...I used Deb's prototype of the "wing clipper" in class one summer when I pieced the Carolina Lily quilt that is in my profile.)
I am sure each of us has had a teacher that changed or started us on our quilting journey...it would be nice to hear every one's stories.

Barbara

Wow! This is a hot topic. My recent way to make FG is to take 2 HSTs and sew them together as I did in the SOTTTs club! BTW - Almost finished hand quilting my large HST quilt and finsihed the little one
Glad I checked out this topic, because we are expecting a weekend with Deb Tucker and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not. Now, I think I will.

There is a great book on curved freeform shapes and flying geese called "Flying Colors" by Gail Garber. Very well written, great pictures and directions. You can take a sneak peak inside the book at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Colors-Paper-Pieced-Full-Size-Foundations/dp/1571208186
I have the book and plan to play with it now that I've done my first set of more traditional flying geese with Deb Tucker's ruler (I met her at an Expo last year and she showed me how to use it--it was too easy and fast when I got it home and tried it). I completed a flying geese border on a small quilt in a couple of hours (third border in a round robin). Renata

Lorchen, I would really like to learn to do that too. Maybe I will have to go to Birmingham in August.

Margo, Kathy and Rita...I am glad you liked the link to Deb's "Wing Clipper". There are so many ways to do things and tools to try. I guess it's just finding the one that works for you, and this one works for me.
Keep sewing everyone!

Barbara

And I have just managed to get a place on a little 90 minutes workshop on curved flying geese at Festival of Quilts in August in Birmingham, UK.

For any of you who like paper piecing, Brenda Henning's Triangulations 3.0 has her version of flying geese (Tamed Geese) in multiple sizes from 1/2" x 1" to
3 3/4" x 7 1/2", in addition to the HSTs and QSTs. I like the accuracy and elimination of messing with rulers....as well as the math! Here is a link to her website: http://www.bearpawproductions.com

Nancy

Barbara thanks for the link. I think it looks interesting too. Kathy, I have been using Eleanor Burns ruler too with the same results. I think Deb Tucker's method would make it more accurate because you draw the lines on either side of the centre and sew on them rather than draw a line in the centre and stitch a 1/4" either side of it. I also like the X marks the top centre so you would always have an exact 1/4" at the top.

I just watched Deb Tucker's you tube video on the Wing clipper through the link- I like it! I've been making the geese the Eleanor Burns way, because that gave me the most consistent results. I use my own ruler with very thin lines for trimming. But I've been having dificulty with getting the sewn lines at exact right angles for some reason, which makes some of the geese a little off. Deb's method is a variation of one I've seen in many books, but with her ruler it looks easier to do. I've never seen these rulers at any quilt shops. I might have to order one from her. Kathy

Barbara, that's the same technique that I linked to, but Deb's tool looks GREAT and I LUV the quilt hanging on the wall behind her! Thanks for the link!

Deb Tucker is a great teacher,who has designed several rulers. One is her "Wing Clipper"
I use it all the time when I make flying geese pieces for my quilts. And from a girl whose screen name is "makesgeese"...I should know
I put the link to her you tube video below, but you will have to copy and paste it. While I can make geese I can't make inter net thingies link.
Her web site is: studio 180 designs and the videos are on there as well.
I hope you like Deb as much as I do. Whenever I left one of her classes I always felt I left that class a better piecer than I was when I went in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7WQpzknLGg
Oh my word! The link worked! I am sure it wasn't me...must of been the elves behind the screen...
Barbara