Friday, July 31, 2020

Quilt Reveal: Pinwheels




I have finished my latest quilt. It is relatively small 12" x 36" so it a mini quilt or a table runner.  It is my mini quilt of the month for the month of July.


The blocks were started in October 2010. While some quilts are delayed because of some problem, this one was delayed because I thoroughly enjoyed making the blocks. Once the components are made, they can be switched around and placed in different ways to form blocks that look very different from each other. I planned on making even more components to find more ways to form these blocks.


In May, I pulled out the blocks again. I decided to finish these blocks off into a quilt and experiment with more blocks at a later date.


The original plan was a 2 x 2 layout, but once I saw that a 1 x 4 layout let each block shine on its own, everything fell in place and it was easy to make the quilt top.

Then some things happened and this quilt top waited for me to finish it.


Sandwiching it was easy, since the backing fabric and the batting were already cut to size.  I haven't used the sewing machines in a while, and I still had post traumatic shock from the last time I used them. I broke needles, and a needle holder, and when I took the one machine to the shop, it got waylaid in the coronavirus store closing, and then I had to pick it up from another town quickly. "Come today because we might shut down tomorrow and then we don't know when you will be able to get your machine back."

The quilting is simple to let the quilt blocks shine, and since the busy border wouldn't show the quilting much anyway.  Straight lines to avoid any trauma.  I was originally planning on quilting horizontal lines on the longer borders, but I was afraid that there might be some puckering where the lines crossed, and I wanted this quilt to be as stress free as possible. Straight vertical lines did mean more turning (since I didn't quilt through the pinwheels), and more rows to quilt, but it is a small quilt so it wasn't a big deal.


I didn't have enough of the backing / border fabric for a separate double fold binding, but I did have enough for a fold over binding. I haven't done that very often, but I did write a tutorial the last time I did it.  Since it wasn't planned, I did have to rip out some parts where I had sewn past the quilt top, but it wasn't very much. Since I quilted all the way to the edge, I trimmed the quilt slightly past the quilt top to avoid cutting the backing and kept the binding wide enough to cover that gap. Since it is the same fabric as the border, it looks great!



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11 comments:

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

A nice July finish. I think that makes a month feel complete to have a finish and nothing is better than completing July which is usually too hot to get much done.

I hope you have a great August and many more finishes.

Quilting Babcia said...

Very interesting how these blocks can be arranged so differently, and I love your border fabric that brings everything together. Very beautiful finish!

Sandy said...

Many things I love about this little quilt, Shasta. From your use of the four homeless blocks, the simple but effective quilting, the "make do" binding, to the overall look of the finished quilt. Oh, and I love the border/back/binding fabric!

Joyful Quilter said...

Lovely finish. Really like the border fabric.

Cynthia@wabi-sabi-quilts said...

Great idea to set the blocks 1x4. And your border fabric is so pretty. Nice that the fold-over binding worked out! Sorry about your machine troubles. I think the straight line quilting is nice.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

Yay for a great finish!! I really like Blue and white and the pinwheels just make those colors shine!

Kate said...

Congrats on a beautiful finish! Love those blues.

Tanya said...

What a great finish! A nice cool color for the summer too. Isn't it fun to play around with blocks. You found a great layout to show them all off!

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Bravo! Well done, such a great finish, I just love the blues.

Karrin Hurd said...

Congratulations on a great finish!

Miaismine said...

I loved gazing at your variety of pinwheels. I'm so glad you shared your project!