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Flying Geese blocks ***

Flying Geese are used most often as a border.... ...but not always! Here are some blocks that include them. Kite Tails Jacob's Ladder Spring Beauty Wild Goose Chase Pineapple Forward & Back Fox & Geese Mosaic, #12 Wheel Wild Goose Chase Toad in a Puddle Wild Goose Chase Wild Goose Chase Odd Fellows This "Make it!" icon links to a page that shows three ways to make Flying Geese rows.

Kite Tails Kite Tails Kite Tails Ladies Art Company #234, 1897 Road to California/Stepping Stones/Kite Tails/Wild Goose Chase/Crossroads Along with 399 other blocks, Road to California was published in the 1897 Ladies Art Company catalog (#234). There are a lot of Roads to California blocks, though, and we suggest that the block be called Kite Tails, one of the three names that columnist Nancy Page came up with in 1932 (Stepping Stones) and 1942 (Kite Tails, Wild Goose Chase). Needlecraft Supply, according to Barbara Brackman, came up with the name Crossroads in 1938. The block is laid out on an 8x8 grid, meaning it's called either a four-patch or an eight-patch, depending on who's talking.

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder (Grandmother Dexter) Jacob's Ladder Grandmother Dexter, 1932 This Grandma Dexter variation of the block above (Kite Tails/Road to California) was made from scrap fabrics—not surprising, given it was published during the Great Depression. Why it was named Jacob's Ladder is a mystery. But then, we weren't there to provide an opinion in 1932 (or thereabouts), when it was published. We've posted a diagram. Click on the "Make it!" icon above to see it.

Spring Beauty Spring Beauty Spring Beauty Foland, KCS 1932 The Kansas City Star's Eveline Foland dreamed up this variation on Toad in a Puddle in 1932. The difference amounts to one additional triangle in each corner. In the Star's illustration, the area in medium green at left was shown as a print with multiple small dots, much like a pattern on the door of a pie safe. "For those who are not quilters," Foland wrote, "This illustration is adaptable to art metal, for the decoration of boxes and chests and tiles, and for cushion tops." A similar block called IXL or I Excel, an octagon, was in the Star in 1936. For more information, click here:

Wild Goose Chase Wild Goose Chase Wild Goose Chase The Patchwork Book, 1932 Birds in Flight This block got its name in 1932's The Patchwork Book, according to Jinny Beyer, whose Quilter's Album also records the name Birds in Flight from American Patchwork Quilts (1973). The block reflects traditional proportions for flying geese; they're twice as wide as they are tall. The "Make It!" icon links to instructions for a block that includes four Wild Goose Chases as a single block.

Pineapple Pineapple Pineapple Antique Quilts, 1974 From Antique Quilts, a McCall's book published in 1974. This is the only Pineapple block we've seen that incorporates flying geese. The classic Pineapple is constructed like a Log Cabin, with parallel strips of fabric, like the sides and top of the block at left.

Forward & Back Forward & Back (alternative layout) Forward & Back Cabot, 1937 Forward & Back Perpetual Motion/Tree Everlasting In 1937, Nancy Cabot presented this block in the Chicago Tribune, along with both of its alternative names. For the alternative layout, we've turned every other block counterclockwise.

Fox & Geese Fox & Geese Fox & Geese Farm Journal & Far-mer's Wife, ca. 1941 A two-color block from Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife, ca. 1941, according to Jinny Beyer's Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns (2009).

Mosaic, No. 12 Mosaic #12 LAC #234 1897 Mosaic, No. 12 The Ladies Art Company published this block and a similar one, called Dutchman's Puzzle, in 1897. That block appears directly below this one. Its first publisher called it "Wheel," and so do we. Both blocks have quarter-blocks that are turned 90 degrees clockwise compared with its neighbors. The difference is that Mosaic No. 12 starts with a quarter-block turned 90 degrees from Wheel's by 90 degrees. Take a look at the top half of each. See how the top two quarter-blocks have changed places?

Wheel Wheel Wheel Ohio Farmer 1894 Dutchman's Wheel/Dutchman's Puzzle/Swastika Quilt The Ohio Farmer first published this block back in 1894 and again in 1898 as Dutchman's Wheel, and it was Dutchman's Puzzle in the Ladies Art Company catalog of 1897. All four times, its light and dark pieces were arranged as they are in the graphic at left. They were also arranged that way in a block inexplicably named Swastika Quilt, published in the Kansas City Star in 1939.

Wild Goose Chase Wild Goose Chase (Holstein) Wild Goose Chase Holstein, 1973 Jonathan Holstein's The Pieced Quilt (1973) was the first time, to our knowledge, that this block was published. Our own sources were Beyer's Quilter's Album and Brackman's Encyclopedia.

Toad in a Puddle

Toad-in-a-Puddle

Another block from the 1897 Ladies Art Company (#150). In the LAC's catalog, only the four triangles in dark pink at left were dark; all the other patches were a single light color.

Toad in the Puddle is also an alternative name for the Jack-in-the-Pulpit block, which you can see by clicking on this graphic:

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Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase
Aunt Martha, 1958 Wild Goose Chase—the Aunt Martha version—is from the booklet Easy Quilts (No. 3500). Jinny Beyer's Quilter's Album tells us it was published around 1958.

What's unusual about this block is that when the lines of flying geese meet, one line is unbroken. Instead of an intersection, it's an overpass. That accounts for the size of the block, too: It's hard to miss that overpass in the center.

"Aunt Martha" pointed out that the block was 24 inches wide and that "only" 12 would make a quilt. She sounds just like our Mom.

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Wild Goose Chase

Wild Goose Chase (LAC)

Wild Goose Chase LAC #94
1897

The Ladies Art Company catalog of 1897 included this block as its #94. It shows flying geese as they're usually used: in long lines and (often) as borders. The triangle proportions are unusual, though. In traditional blocks, each "goose" is usually twice as wide as it is tall.

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Odd Fellows

Odd Fellows

Odd FellowsLAC #269
1897

Another block from the LAC catalog of 1897, Odd Fellows was the company's block #269. Here, the flying geese converge on the center square.

Several blocks were later published that are quite similar to this one, of course. One split the block (including the center square) into quarters. Others added one more flying goose to each corner, leaving the intersection of squares one fourth the size as it is in our mockup. We hope to include more blocks soon.