Sixteen Flying Dutchman blocks are done! They're for my Little Bites "Whit" mini quilt. Why is this block called Flying Dutchman, anyway?! Wikipedia says that a Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship that can never make port and is doomed to sail the oceans forever. Maybe this refers to how I felt doomed to make 128 mini flying geese forever?

I'm kidding, of course. The blocks were actually really quick and easy to construct once the geese were completed. There's nothing complicated here. Each block measures 4" finished. I was a little concerned about getting my points to match in the centers but they turned out really nicely.

It took some maniacal focus on Thursday and Friday nights to get these pieced. I spent the early part of last week in Dallas on a business trip - hence, no sewing for three days. This is an annual trip where I train and motivate a group of 75 people to sell my company's products throughout the holidays. It was quite a production, in a hotel ballroom. I had special music, snacks and decor, and I even did a costume change mid-lecture! It was hysterical, but hopefully they all learned something, too. Then I rushed back to NYC to meet with another retailer. So it was a temporary break from my normal life, but sometimes I gotta do the real job!

I'll leave you with a shot of all 16 blocks. They're ready for sashing, cornerstones and a border! A finish is coming soon!

The flying geese have arrived! I've got 32 sets of 4 matching geese. They'll finish at 1" x 2". Yeah, I know. Crazy. They took longer to make than I had expected - they're super easy to make and trim with the Mini Fit To Be Geese ruler, but they're a little tedious. I also make them in color groups because then I have a feeling of accomplishment ("Yay, all the red geese are stitched!")

Ok, now that they're sewn and trimmed, I need to decide on a setting. First there is the Flying Dutchman variation. I love these. The blocks look scrappy, but they're really perfectly controlled. It does mean that my points will all need to meet in the middle correctly.

And then there are the straight rows of flying geese going in opposite directions. I really like these too! I could do them either randomly mixed up like I've shown here, or I could arrange them in an ombre rainbow setting.