Pinwheels & Patches Quilt Tutorial

I’m so excited to be a part of Shari Butler’s blog tour for her upcoming line of fabric In The Meadow for Sweet Bee Designs!!  This fabric has such a fresh and whimsical feel – it’s perfect for spring and summer!  I originally thought to make a wall quilt or a table quilt but I kept cutting and sewing and it turns out I’ve made myself a new throw quilt!!

Aren’t these fabrics so HAPPY!!!!!!  I wanted to make a quilt that felt fun and relaxed just like summer should feel!  I call it Pinwheels & Patches and I’m going to share how you can make this quilt!!

The quilt measures 54″ x 72″.

And a little secret, this quilt is made using only 1 quilt block repeated over and over!  Cool!!!

Fabric Requirements:

1 red fat quarter (pinwheels)

1 blue fat quarter (pinwheels)

1 yellow fat quarter (pinwheels)

3 low volume fat quarters (pinwheels)

16-20 assorted fat quarters (yellow, pink, red, blue prints)

2/3 yard binding fabric

3 1/2 yard backing fabric

Instructions

all seams 1/4″

WOFQ means width of Fat Quarter (measuring 21″)

Press all seams open

Make the Half Square Triangles (HSTs)

Begin by cutting (3) 5 3/8″ x WOFQ strips of the red, blue, yellow, and three low volume fat quarters (all the pinwheel fat quarters).

Subcut them into (8) 5 3/8″ squares of each color:

Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each low volume 5 3/8″ square.  Or you can use one of these rulers to draw the 1/4″ lines.

Pair a low volume and a red, yellow or blue 5 3/8″ square, right sides together.  Sew 1/4″ along both sides of the diagonal line.

Cut on the diagonal line.

Press seams open.  Continue making (16) HSTs of each of the red, yellow, and blue:

The HSTs should measure 5″ at this point.

Using the 16-20 assorted fat quarters, cut a total of (144) 5″ charm squares.  This is a scrappy looking quilt, so no need to plan, just cut and go!!

Once you have the (144) 5″ assorted squares cut and the (48) HSTs made, you’re ready to assemble the blocks!

There are 12 large blocks in this quilt each made up of 4 smaller blocks.

Choose (3) 5″ squares and 1 HST.  Lay them out like this:

This is the basic unit of the quilt.  You will make 48 of these.  You can lay the whole thing out, or go totally random and just choose fabrics from a pile!  That’s what’s so fun about this quilt!

Sew the squares together as you would a 4-patch, pressing seams open.

Continue making this block unit until you’ve made 48.  Next, select 4 block units with matching pinwheel colors, and make a larger 4-patch. Notice how the block is rotated to form a pinwheel! Press seams open.

Continue this process until you’ve made (12) large blocks:

Of course, you can lay out the whole quilt and sew it together row by row.  I was excited to find a different method of getting this look!

Once all the blocks are completed, sew them together in rows.  Then sew the rows together, making sure to always match and pin at seam intersections.

Pressing seams open throughout the process allows you to mix up blocks and not worry about which way they are pressed!

All that’s left now is to quilt and bind!

My quilting is always done late at night with Mufasa’s help…..he looks really helpful!!!

I love how it turned out!  It’s exactly how I wanted it to look and feel!  The fabrics lend themselves to a patchwork feel.  I love that there are large, medium, and small prints in the collection.  It just makes me happy to look at it!

And who doesn’t love a striped binding!!!

It’s easy and breezy!!

You will be surprised how fast you can put this together!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Be sure to follow along on the In The Meadow Blog Tour!  You won’t want to miss what these amazing designers have in store for you!!!!