Last month, we practiced accuracy with a no-waste method for making flying geese. We’ll be building on that skill this month as we create smaller flying geese units for this block with a meaningful story. Inspired by her personal journey of starting to quilt by flying solo, before joining a gaggle of quilters in a guild, our designer for this month is the skilled artist and designer Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop.

Known both as a fine artist and a quilt pattern designer, Andrea pushes the boundaries of quilting through collaborative work, one-of-a-kind design, and larger-than-life public installations. Her work has a timeless quality combined with an effortless calmness. This month’s block is no different. Let’s dive into some tips and tricks to help you create this block as calmly and effortlessly as you can.

Meet Andrea

Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop is a textile artist, quilt designer, author, and educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. After working in various design fields and settings ranging from architecture to museums, the quilting medium called to her as a way to explore place, belonging, and agency. Her background in architecture has allowed her to understand the design process from a variety of approaches; her training in life has taught her about the beauty in mess. 

 You can follow her on Instagram and find all of Andrea’s patterns on her website. 

 One of the Quilt Alliance’s signature projects is the Go Tell It video documentation project, which anyone can do. Watch the video below to see Andrea talk about her block, and keep reading this blog post to learn a tip for how to document your own quilts!

Andrea’s Top BOM Tips

Each month, our Birthday Block of the Month Designers will share their top tips for making the block they designed. Here are three great tips for making this block straight from Andrea herself.

Andrea’s Tip 1: Follow Her Easy Flying Geese Tutorial

For some new and fun tips about making flying geese, don’t miss Andrea’s no-waste flying geese tutorial. It is such a valuable resource that we included a link in the PDF pattern as well as the blog post!

Andrea’s Tip 2: Cut Down the Time It Takes To Cut

When cutting the units apart, cut multiple at once using the quickest cutting technique from Andrea’s blog! This tip will cut down your cutting time, especially if you decide to make more flying geese or an entire flying geese quilt after this month’s block.

Andrea’s Tip 3: Get the Perfect Trim On Your Geese

If you’re making a lot of Flying Geese, a Bloc-Loc Ruler is a wonderful tool to have for trimming them perfectly. However, if you don’t have a Bloc-Loc ruler, keep reading for a step-by-step look at how to trim the geese units with a regular ruler.

Quilt Alliance BOM Tips

Each month, we share our best tips for making the Birthday Block of the Month as well. These tips come to you from our Birthday Block of the Month host, Quilt Alliance co-president Laura Hopper! 

Like last month, my tips for this month are going to focus on making the flying geese units. Let’s dive in!

Sew with a Scant Quarter Inch

In Andrea’s tutorial, she specifically mentions using a scant quarter inch. If you’re new to this style of sewing, it’s easy breezy. Instead of aiming for an exact quarter inch seam allowance, you’ll aim for that seam allowance to be just a few fibers smaller. Trust me when I say it sounds harder than it is! 

Also, don’t forget our tip from last month — know where your intersections are located. In the image above, you can see how to sew a seam through a flying geese X to ensure that you get a perfect point. See how great the point is below!