Stack, Dream, Quilt: Fly High with the Priscilla's Dream Block:
8", 10", 12", and 16" finished blocks

Get ready to dream up your next stunning quilt with the Priscilla's Dream block.

With its stacked trios of Flying Geese, it looks like there's a lot of picky piecing and trimming to do.

But looks can be deceiving.

We'll use paper piecing to make quick work of those Geese#8212;accurately and without sacrificing any points. ;)

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Download and print paper piecing pattern

With RST, position the long bias edge of a Sky.1 with one side of Goose.1. The bottom will be even with each other.

Start your stitching outside the dashed lines, sew on the solid line and then a generous 1/4" past the end of the solid line. (red arrows)

Press.

Repeat for the other Sky.1. This time your stitching will start in the middle of the paper pattern. Again, sew starting and ending a generous 1/4" before and after the solid line separting Goose.1 and Sky.1.

Press.

We trim now to give us an accurate 1/4" SA which also shows us exactly where to postion Goose.2.

At your cutting mat, pull the pattern away from your stitches. The paper may rip a bit. This is normal.

Line up the edge of your ruler with the solid line between the Sky.1s and Goose.2.

Fold the paper pattern back on itself and position the 1/4" mark on your ruler with the folded edge.

Trim away the excess fabric.

Use this perfectly trimmed edge to position the wide side of Goose.2, RST with the first FG.

This seam runs from one to the other edge of the unit. That means—just like it does in traditional piecing—that you can chain piece this seam.

Who knew? Chain stitching in paper piecing!

At your cutting mat, trim both sides of Goose.2 just like you did the seam between the Geese, i.e., fold back on the solid line between each Sky.2 and Goose.2, position the ruler's 14" mark with the folded edge and trim away the excess.

Add the first Sky.2 triangle to one of the trimmed edges. RST, of course. 

Add the second Sky.2.

Fold the paper pattern back on itself.

Repeat the whole trimming process that we used for the Goose.1 and Sky.1 patches.

Add the third Goose triangle and trim its edges to the perfect 1/4".

We've got more chain piecing ahead of us for the Sky.3s as both seams run from edge to edge. What's not to love?

Give your FG Trio a final press.

Looks like our unit is in delightful disarray on the left, eh? After trimming we've got perfection (middle). Our points are nice and pointy, not cut off. The seams are exactly where they need to be.

And all it cost us was a bit of fabric (right) and the patience to sew on a line.

Let's get the trimming done.

At our trusty cutting mat, line up the 1/4" line on the ruler with the solid line surrounding the block (all red arrows below) and trim away the excess (1st). Turn the unit a quarter turn and trim again (2nd). Continue for each side of each FG (3rd and 4th).

After you've stitched and trimmed all your FG, remove the paper pattern.

Because we precut patches according to the cutting chart, all the edges are on the straight of grain—just like any Flying Geese you'd traditionally piece.

With RST, sew the long #1 and #2 strips together.

Press with the SA to the darker #2.

At the cutting mat, line up a straight line on your ruler with the seam line (red arrow), Trim away just a smidge to create a straight edge to start your subcutting from.

Find the Subcut Width that corresponds to the finished block size you're working on. For our 12" finished block the subcut is 2" wide.

Sew the pairs together. Their seams nest to make matching the seams in the center easy.

Use the chart again, to double-check the size of your 4-patches. (For our sample, these 4-patches should measure 3-1/2" square...and they do!)

With RST, sew a #3 to a #4. Press the SA to the darker #3.

Arrange your patches as shown below (left). 

With RST, stitch a #4 to a 4-patch (center). This SA is pressed toward the 4-patch.

Finally, stitch the #3/#4 to the #1/#2/#4.

This SA is pressed toward the four patch. (right)

Here's an up-close look at the front and back of a Corner to see the results of our pressing.

Refer to the chart to confirm the accuracy of your finished Corner. Our sample's Corner should be 5" square. 

Repeat for all four corners.

Time to turn our dream into reality.

Arrange your patches so that your FGs point out from the center on the sides. The dark patches form a chain from the center to the outside corner. The cut square completes the center.

With RST, sew the units in each row together. The seam lines of the FG match those of the Corner units. If you followed the pressing instructions, all those SAs nest. 

The seams in these rows are all pressed away from the FG.

Stitch the rows together. Use your pins as you need them to hold edges even and points in place as you sew.

Our Priscilla's Dream quilt block is finished.

Paper piecing those FG Trios made block assembly a 'dream'. All the seams lined up and nested at exactly the right spot. 

Having the patience to sew on a line makes so many tasks in quilting easier...foolproof in fact!

A final look-see from the backside.

When I was learning to sew clothes as a kid, both my Mom and Grandma insisted (loudly) that the inside should look as good and the outside.

The same rule applies to my quilting today. ;)