QE1 Quilt - goose in the pond

One day, while trawling the internet, I found On Point Quilter's blog post about a quilt called "geometric garden" and the blogger's use of Electric Quilt software to reverse engineer the block.  I was struck by how cool the antique quilt was, and immediately saved it in my inspiration folder for later!  

The part that most caught my eye is where the two stripes intersect with the 9-patch, because that creates a mini-staggered effect.  It looks more complicated than it is, and it places the seam allowances where they don't conflict.  

Block Anatomy & Variations

Further research (well, further noodling around on the internet and stumbling on things) revealed the more common name of the block is Goose in the Pond, because the corners resemble flying geese blocks, and they seem to be coming toward the center "pond".  It is less frequently called Young Man's Fancy.  It looks like an elaborate version of churn dash, as if some show-off took the shape of a churn dash and gleefully subdivided it... doubtless while crowing "what if I take the half-square triangles on the corners and make them smaller ones, and change one of them into a 9-patch?!  And then instead of a bar connecting them, I'll use rail fence units!"

Goose in the Pond has five elements:

• "geese" made of half-square triangles (HSTs) in the corners, pointing inward
• 9-patches nestled inside the geese
• bars (rail fence units) connecting the 9-patches to each other
• the background (outsides)
• the "pond" in the center

Color-wise, the darker or focus fabric is used for the geese, the outer rails, and the O of the 9-patches.  Lighter or non-focus fabric is used for the background, inner rail, pond, and the X of the 9-patches.  Under the name Goose in the Pond, I found many more examples and variations.  

​There's a lot of overlap in quilt block nomenclature, with the same basic blocks sometimes given different names when the colors are changed.  Close relatives of Goose in the Pond vary in the configuration of the rails/9-patches, or arrangement of the HSTs in the corners.  Relatives include:

• Bachelor's Puzzle -- rail fences are light-dark-light; HSTs are same as Goose in the Pond
• Missouri Puzzle -- rail fences are light-dark-light, and there's a different arrangement to HSTs in the corners, creating secondary patterns when tiled
• New Mexico -- rail fences are dark-light-dark, same as Goose in the Pond; HSTs are same as Missouri Puzzle
• The block used in the Geometric Garden quilt, which started this whole info-quest, is analyzed in greater depth, below.  

Variations

Time of Popularity: Most of examples cataloged in the Quilt Index are from the late 1800's-1940's, with the bulk being in the middle of that time span.  This makes me wonder if it became popular after being published (perhaps Nancy Cabot's 1933 column?), rather than being a folk-pattern that developed regionally over time.  It's not a super popular block at the moment, but not unheard of, either.  
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Dimensions: blocks are nearly always 5x5 grids, meaning the "bars" are the same length as the HSTs.  Vintage blocks occasionally have the "bars" be longer than the HSTs, changing the size of the center block and the proportions of the whole.  Notably, when the bars are longer, the quilt is often labeled Young Man's Fancy.  On Point Quilter, in copying the vintage Geometric Garden block, rendered it a 6x6 grid, with the bars taking up two spaces.  

Elements: it is standard to use a rail-fence style for the bars (three stripes); however, the Geometric Garden quilt (1900-ish) uses two stripes for the bars, and those stripes don't merge neatly into the 9-patch.  One vintage quilt (circa 1900) haphazardly swaps rail fences and 9-patches!  This modern quilt, (also on Instagram) by Tammy Morris (2024) is based on a 1912 variation of the Goose in the Pond, and shows considerable elaboration of the units!  Ruth B. McDowell​ (1945-2024) did an inventive art quilt where the Goose in the Pond blocks are in the background, merging into appliqued geese in the foreground.  

Assembly: I think vintage quilters may have assembled their blocks one at a time, judging by the occasionally wonky lines and mismatched corners, or the choices of fabrics in the scrappy quilts (each rail being a different color).  Modern quilters more often use assembly-line methods, such as first sewing long strips together and then sub-cutting to make rail fences and 9-patches.  It's also common for modern quilters to square up after each step, using clear acrylic rulers and rotary cutters; this produces more uniform results.  Blocks can be set straight or on point, but are rarely tiled.  Instead, if they are set straight, they might have sashing, or alternate with blank blocks to ease the eye with negative space.  

Color: Everything from high-contrast, two-tone quilts to scrappy morasses of plaid and prints can be found.  This variation seems to come down to the maker, not the time period.  

And so, I play!  

I begin this quilt shortly after finishing the Lilac Roses baby quilt, and I choose my fabrics as a kind of counterpoint... after working with lilacs (someone else's colors) this time I opt for colors that are entirely mine!  I use a crazy Queen Elizabeth I (QE1) print from Alexander Henry Fabrics (the citrus colorway?) and co-ordinating fabrics from my stash.

quilt math

fabrics

As usual for me, since I tend to quilt from scraps that I have rather than buying yardage that I need, all I need for a pattern is to draw the finished shape, and write a few measurements on there.  The drawing represents the finished dimensions, and my notes add the seam allowances or note what size I need to cut for 8-at-a-time HSTs.  Each square is its own mini-project, and when I put it with the others, great is my delight!  

I will make a bunch of these blocks, about half with darker geese and half with lighter geese, and when I have enough, I'll come up with a layout!