Beyond Basic Borders – Flying East Block

Fly East, fly west, or fly into the nest! This cute combination of the flying geese and rectangles makes a fun and funky border.

Beyond Basic Borders is a new series of how to elevate the quilting border to the next level. Whether you use the leftover fabric from your quilt top, or introduce some new colours, this is going to be fun!

To begin with, we will base the borders on using your GO! Qube Mix & Match sets although we will transition into other dies. Experimenting with colours and layouts, we will show you how simple design changes can alter the appearance of the block.

Finished width size borders:

• 4” Qube – 2” finished border
• 6” Qube – 3” finished border
• 8” Qube – 4” finished border
• 9” Qube – 4 ½” finished border
• 10” Qube – 5” finished border
• 12” Qube – 6” finished border

The length will depend on your quilt top.

Materials:

1. AccuQuilt GO! Big or GO! Fabric Cutter
2. Shape 3 from any GO! Mix & Match Qube
3. Shape 5 from any GO! Mix & Match Qube
4. Shape 8 from any GO! Mix & Match Qube

Cutting Instructions:

1. Cut (1) Shape 3 – Quarter Square Triangle (QST) per unit
2. Cut (2) shape 5 – Half Square Triangle (HST) per unit
3. Cut (1) Shape 8 –Rectangle per unit

Pressing Instructions:

Pressing seams to one side or open is another discussion within itself, although the two general thoughts are:

Open Seams: allow for a smoother flatter quilt top, which doesn’t allow fabric colour to appear through your quilt top.

Side Seam Pressing: is faster, and the seam is usually pressed towards the darkest colour. It makes it easier when you want to ‘nest’ seams in place, giving a clean seam intersection.

My suggestion – try both and see what works for you! There are no Quilt Police here.

Sewing Instructions:

All seams are ¼” unless otherwise specified.

1. Sew two dark HST onto one light QST to create a rectangle as shown below. Press.
2. Sew the two rectangle units together to create a square. Press.

Finishing Options:

Adding different colours, in different sequences can totally change the look and appearance of the design. Below is the original two-colour design, which in itself is stylish, although you can see, adding more colours can change the appearance. Scrappy happy also works well, although, adding a base colour can add stability to the border.

Original Design: Alternating Colours: Adding 1 extra colour:

This is just a few ideas, on how to use this simple block.

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Congratulations on finishing your project!