Trim the Dog Ears

Who knew there was so much to making flying geese?

My older Son's quilt has 50 stars in it, which means 200 flying geese. That's 200 triangles with 400 smaller triangles. 

Its hardly the big accomplishment because there is more to prepping before they are star quality. Three triangles are pieced, and they are pressed flat. "Trim the dog-earred points" is all it says on the pattern for the next step. 

One line. 

Dog ears are the points at the corners that add bulk to small squares. Some people leave them, however taking the time to clip them helps give the quilt top a smoother look. It reminds me of so many other mundane tasks a person has that seem relatively insignificant.  

During this particular task or step, each flying geese piece is assessed for its point with a scant 1/4" seam allowance overage. If it needs a correction, now is the time. I've spent an hour clipping and have a few seams to re-do to make the quilt top go together correctly.

As I pieced the smaller triangles on top of the larger ones, over and over and over again, it reminded me why I work on a project and set it aside. All I can ever do is work in the present with what I've got and keep going forward. I don't want to get caught up in thoughts of how they will fit as part of the star blocks. I need to focus so that they are done with as much accuracy as I am able to give.

Looking back on my work, I see how fabrics got matched and know that in the matching of each set of 4 flying geese, that a person's eye will have a place to rest in the busy-ness of this scrap quilt. Scrappy quilts get busy-looking. That is the charm of them. It looks like each star will be fairly mono-chromatic or at least look coordinated. I will complete these star blocks and then set the project aside to work on others. 

I am tempted to simply highlight the step when I finish it, however, after doing that, I plan to leave the Note-to-Myself.