3-Dimensional Flying Geese

There's one more method of making flying geese that's fast, fun and super easy, but it does create more bulk and could therefore be a royal pain to hand-quilt.  This method is often referred to as the one-seam method because it only requires one sewn seam to make.  It's fun because the "goose" makes little pockets if not stitched down by quilting.  I think children especially would have fun with a quilt made from these flying geese.

The Missouri Star Quilt Co. has a video showing how to make these units using a fabric layer cake (10-inch squares) collection:
Jenny Doan's One-Seam Flying Geese

In this video by The Quilt Show, Ricky Tims gives more detailed instructions for making smaller flying geese units:
Ricky Tims' One-Seam Flying Geese

If videos are difficult to access, here's a web site that gives step-by-step photos and the basic math formula for making these in any size:
Dimensional Flying Geese
This site also provides a handy pdf version:
pdf for Dimensional Flying Geese

I tried this method using 5" charms and found that two charms make two flying geese with an unfinished size of 2.5" x 4.5".  As noted in the videos, one edge tends to come out a little wonky but it's easily trimmed.  I usually press my seams to one side, but for this method pressing the seam open (for the two "sky" squares) seemed to make more sense.

my test results for one-seam flying geese

I'm excited to play with this method some more as soon as I get the instructions finished for the first block of the For the Birds BOM.  It's taking longer than expected because I've forgotten my way around the software program I use.  Use it or lose it, as the saying goes.