Hive 4 - April - Chicago Geese for Emily

Chicago Geese Quilt Block for Emily

There’s a certain kind of homesick that doesn’t show up all at once—it sneaks in. In the colors you reach for without thinking. In the way your body remembers a place before your brain catches up.

For me, its Chicago.

Not just the skyline or the lake (though I’d take a gray, wind-bitten walk along Lake Michigan in a second), but the feeling of it. The noise, the closeness, the rhythm of neighborhoods stacked on top of history. The kind of place that teaches you how to be loud, loyal, and teaches you how to work hard.

I didn’t expect the Chicago Bears colors to hit me the way they have. That deep navy. The orange. It’s more than a team—it’s memory. Even when they were losing (especially when they were losing), it feels like belonging.

Being away makes you notice what mattered. The small things. The loud things. The colors that never really left you. So this year I wanted to make a Chicago-inspired quilt; I found a Chicago Quilt Block and I have my StashBee community.  

I hope that you will be able to help me be a little less homesick.  Thank you to my StashBee Hive and thanks to Chicago, you are still stitched into everything I make.

Fabric Requirements for Chicago Geese Quilt Block:

Colors:

Orange: Any shade, hue, or tint of orange you have in your stash. These are some of the oranges I have.

Blue: Any shade, hue, or tint you have. As you can see any navy, cornflower, or royal blue is fine.

Low Volume: Any shade, hue, or tint but please no holiday or religious writing (quilting or academic writing is ok). You can either use all one low volume for the whole block, or one per row, or scappy as I did in my sample block.

Cutting:

Orange:

1 - 5" square

1 - 4.5" square

Blue:

1 - 5" square

3 - 4.5" squares

Low Volume:

1 - 2.5" x 4.5"

2 - 2.5: x 6.5"

2 - 2.5" x 8.5"

2 - 2.5" x 10.5"

1 2.5" x 12.5"

Sewing Directions: 

Take the 5" Orange square and the 5" blue square and put them together right sides facing. Draw a diagonal line on the orange square from corner to corner. Sew a .25" away from the line on both sides. Cut along the diagonal line. Press to the blue fabric. Trim to 4.5". You will only need one of these half square triangles.

Place the HST (Half Square Triangle) with the orange side facing left:

Take one low volume 2.5" x 4.5" and sew it to the left side of the HST then take one low volume 2.5: x 6.5" and sew it to the top of the HST

Then take the blue 4.5" square and draw a line corner to corner.  Place it on the low volume corner on the upper left hand side.

Sew on the line.  Trim .25" from the sewn line. 

You will end up with piece that looks like this:

Take one low volume 2.5" x 6.5" and sew it to the left side of the block you just created then take one low volume 2.5: x 8.5" and sew it to the top.

Then take the blue 4.5" square and draw a line corner to corner.  Place it on the low volume corner on the upper left hand side. Sew on the line.  Trim .25" from the sewn line. 

Take one low volume 2.5" x 8.5" and sew it to the left side of the block you just created then take one low volume 2.5: x 10.5" and sew it to the top.

Then take the blue 4.5" square and draw a line corner to corner.  Place it on the low volume corner on the upper left hand side. Sew on the line.  Trim .25" from the sewn line. 

Take one low volume 2.5" x 10.5" and sew it to the left side of the block you just created then take one low volume 2.5: x 12.5" and sew it to the top.

Then take the orange 4.5" square and draw a line corner to corner.  Place it on the low volume corner on the upper left hand side. Sew on the line.  Trim .25" from the sewn line.

And your Chicago block is complete! It should measure 12.5" unfinished