Flying Geese

I made great progress in the Studio yesterday - completed one block in the Gettysburg Battle Flags quilt AND did some over-due cleaning.  Yea!  Today I thought I'd follow up on the Flying Geese block.  I had promised to show you some pix of the Flying Geese quilt I've made.  Here's a look:

I dyed the background fabric - it's sort of mottled greys and blues, to replicate the Kansas sky in Fall/Winter. The geese are all bright colors, representing the sun hitting their lovely feathers and making them shimmer and shine.

I even added a half-square triangle sawtooth border:

Here's the kicker ...

Did I mention I used to do a LOT of miniatures? This one may have pushed me a tiny bit beyond sane limits, but I really loved doing it.

And here's the back:



And here's the story behind it, for those who are interested...

Booter  1987-2001

In July of '88, my husband, our two Siberians Lucky and Jesse, and I adopted an 8-month old Australian Shepherd/Lab mix named Booter.  Booter came to us with some behavioral "quirks" - distrust of men, the desire to jump into any tub full of water he saw, and ... as I found out one Fall day, a fear of geese.  We were all standing out in front of our house; my husband had the girls with him on their leashes and I had Booter.  I think we heard and saw the geese at the same time - a low flyover with lots of honking!  The instant I began to marvel at the beauty, I had a 50-pound dog jump straight up and into my arms!  Clearly he was scared, and clearly there was some reason behind it.  I know his former owner tried to turn him into a hunting dog.  You have to understand that Boots was a perfect mix of his breeds - and while the Lab in him was so very eager to please and thrilled to retrieve, the Aussie in him wanted to protect.  And bark.  With respect to hunting, his instinct (from what I pieced together) was to protect the flock of geese ("Look out!  He's got a gun and he's willing to use it!") and I have no doubt this tried the former owner's patience.  I am certain there were some unpleasant eruptions from the former owner - and that all led to Booter connecting honking geese with ... eruptions.  I can't tell you how touched I was that he trusted ME enough our first Fall together to seek comfort in my arms!

We eventually worked through it all with him - and seeing geese fly overhead remind me to this day of my sweet Booter, his ability to overcome his fear and the trust he showed.  The Winter we lost him (to cancer), there seemed to be more geese in our skies than normal.  Maybe I was just tuned in to them a bit more - but it seemed like they were paying tribute to him - like a military flyover.  The Miniature Flying Geese - Flyover quilt represents all those dear memories.  And that is why the Flying Geese block is so special to me!

Thank you for reading!