Flying Goose Ruler Tutorial/The Blocks are in the Mail!

I felt like a huge weight had been lifted when I finally got those swap blocks in the mail on Wednesday morning.

These are extras since some have dropped out of the swap.
I plan to use them as quilt labels. 

I figured it would be best to do the signature first in case I messed up (and I did!) while signing the block center.
I needed to sign 60 small blocks and 60 larger blocks, so I printed out my "signature" and drew a template around it. Then I could slide the fabric into place and trace my name and location. I pressed 4 pieces at a time onto freezer paper to stabilize before adding the signature. It went surprisingly fast. 

 The small block was a 4.5" snowball. I got those sewn up a couple weeks ago and last week got the "flippy" corners pressed out, trimmed the extra fabric from under the triangles and then squared them up to size. 

The larger block is another story. I'm not sure of the block name, but it's basically a central signature square surrounded by flying geese with cornerstones. 

Thankfully, someone in the swap group mentioned the Eleanor Burns flying goose ruler. 

These rulers were new to me, but I've since purchased the Small Flying Geese Ruler (the one I use here) and the Mini Ruler Set that has 2 FG rulers and a fussy cut ruler. 

Each Flying Geese ruler has 2 sizes on it.  

You start with 2 squares--one smaller and centered. Mark and stitch a quarter inch from the center line.

Cut on the center marked line. 

Open and press to the larger piece.

Layer with opposite fabrics together, matching corners.
Note that the previous seams don't match up.

Mark and stitch as before.

Again cut at the center line.

See that little mark at the bottom of the triangle? You make a clip there.

That clip allows the seam allowances to be pressed in opposite directions.
Do this to both of the pieces you just sewed. 

BOOM! You just made 4 flying geese and you only had to sew two seams! 

Okay, I lied. You do have a little more work to do.
You need to cut them apart.
You could use a regular ruler, but Eleanor has a bunch of these flying geese rulers that make it SO easy. 

I offset this so you could see the line, but you would line it up exactly and cut around the ruler--
easy, peasy and your geese are perfect!

There is some fabric waste, but if you did flipped corners,
you would have also have waste and your goose probably wouldn't be as perfect as these are.

Okay...now BOOM--4 flying geese!
You can see Eleanor in action using the ruler HERE

This is the block set up on my design board. 

The small blocks went to California and the larger blocks (plus one small block) went to Virginia.