Thanks Anne
I got to your formula and burst out with a chuckle. Even wide awake, I'd
have to put my thinking cap on to figure that out. Still being half asleep
and no coffee yet, the impossibility of my understanding such a thing made
me laugh!

Marilyn
in Alberta, Canada

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
. ..
that's right!

ok, now for the block, I strongly suspect it doesn't have a specific name,
but is a creation of the artist. The centre is an ohio star with an
additional square in the centre (this may have another name, but I'm not
familiar with it). Then it's strips of 3 flying geese round the eight
sides.

Actually looking again, I don't think the proportions of the 9 patch are
equal, it's been stretched such that the diagonals of the corner squares
are the same as the length as the other 4 places where the flying geese
are, which I suppose technically means the middle isn't an ohio star, but
it's the same shape as one.

That makes it not even straight forward to draft, you've got to pick a
measurement for the flying geese block that when it's placed on the
diagonal of a square is a nice measurement (or if it isn't you'd have to
make templates).

The formula to calculate that would be sqrt{[(FG)^2]/2}, where FG is the
length of the flying geese unit, in words, that's square that measurement,
divide by 2, then take the square root.

geese unit | square dec | square frac
3 | 2.121 | 2 1/8
4.5 | 3.181 | not good
6 | 4.242 | 4 1/4
7.5 | 5.303 | not good
9 | 6.364 | not good

I chose the first as easy multiples of 3, though you could go in between
as I just went for geese height as 1, 1.5 etc.

Remember the width of the geese is twice the height.

The size of the middle square is the same as the length of the geese unit,
I think I'd cut the square to size, mark the seam allowance and mark the
stitching lines for the square in square, then just cut a square big
enough.

As the geese are in blocks of 3 and each is a different fabric, some of
the short cuts are not going to be shortcurts, I'd consider foundation
piecing it, especially if you were doing it in a smaller size.

The setting bits round the edge are not trivial either, I think drafting
it really would be a good idea, even if you do pick easy measurements.

Thanks for posting this, I rather like it, I may do it as a minature wall
hanging, the 6 inch geese appeal, it would end up 14.5 inches.

Btw, when referring to stuff on the web, it's always best to post a link,
if the link is too long, copy it, go to tinyurl.com, paste it and make a
smaller link to post here. At the opposite end of the spectrum, it's
polite to google (search) for something before posting a question.

Cheers

Anne