Hi everybody, it’s Jenny from the MSQC. And I’ve got a really fun project for you
today. This project is based on the disappearing pinwheel and so we’re calling it Disappearing
Pinwheel 5. And the idea came from our friend Eunice and I just can’t wait to show you
this. So let’s take a look at the quilt behind me. Isn’t this gorgeous? I mean it
is fun, it is bright, it is happy. And of course the fabric lends itself to that as
well. The fabric we’re using today is called Extravaganza and it’s by Lila Tuller for
Riley Blake. And it’s just a happy, happy line. So to make this quilt, what you’re
going to need is one packet of ten inch squares, 42 of them. And again we’re using this Extravaganza
line by Lila Tuller which is just so beautiful. You’re also going to need one packet of
ten inch squares for your background fabric. You’re going to need ¾ of a yard for this
little inner border right here. And for your outer border you’re going to need a yard
and ¾ because we put a nice big six inch border on this just to make it fun.
So what we’re talking about today is this pinwheel block right here. We need to make
a pinwheel. And how we do that is we’re going to put two squares together with contrast.
We’ve used our colored print and our white print. And we are going to sew a quarter of
an inch all the way around the outside edge. Now I’ve already done that here and you
can see so there I’ve got my sewing line all the way around the outside edge. . Then
we’re going to cut it diagonally both directions. So we’re going to take our ruler and we’re
going to lay it from corner to corner like this. We’re going to make our cut and then
we’re going to put it corner to corner this way. And again make our cut. Now what we have
is four half square triangles right away and we need to press those. So let’s go to the
ironing board over here. Alright so I’m just going to lay these on top, give them
a quick setting of the seams. And when you set the seams basically you’re just relaxing
the threads so that they lay nicer. And we’re just going to roll these back like this. And
one more. And now what we’ve got to do here is we’re going to make a pinwheel.
So we are going to put these together. And when you make a pinwheel together, light,
dark. I’m sorry dark, light, dark, light, dark, light. And all of our seams are going
to run to the center like this. There you go. So now what we’re going to do is we’re
going to sew these two together right here on this side and these two together right
here on this side. So let’s take these to the sewing machine. We’re going to sew these
together. And I like a take a few stitches and then kind of anchor myself and then go
down the side. Just straight down, just straight down, we’re doing a quarter of an inch .
Now because these are on the bias you can really make them fit. So if your, if your
cut lines are just a little off or your seam lines are just a little off, you just make
them fit. You just line them up so that they lay nice together. Now we’re going to press
these open so they lay nice and flat. And we want to make our seams go the opposite
way. So we’re going to want this seam to lay down this way. That way they can nest
nicely. And by nesting, what I mean is they’re going to lay together really nice. So when
we put these this way you should have one outer seam going that way and the other seam
going that way. And that’s what we’ve got here. And then we’re going to match
these two middle seams up right snug them. You can just feel them with your fingers when
there’s no, no space in there. You see how this one appears just a little longer bit
because we’re going the bias we’re just going to hold those two together. And we’re
just going to give them a little encouragement to match up. And so that will help them just
match up a little bit. So we’re going to go ahead and start this. Make sure our centers
are lined up. Make sure that seam stays laying down, it kind of popped up right there. There
we go. Going to line this up as well. Oop. And now we get to press this and, I’m going
to, I’m going to trim off these little bunny ears right here and then we’re going to
press this. Now if you find that you have a lot of, a lot of seams coming together right
here you can press that seam open. I’m just going to press it to one side. And I’m just
going to set my iron right here in this middle and give it a burst of steam, make sure it
lays down really nice and we’ve got a great looking pinwheel right here. Alright.
So now when we do all the other disappearing pinwheels we’ve got cutting on all four
sides. For this pinwheel, the disappearing pinwheel 5 we are only going to cut on two
sides. This is so much fun. So we’re going to come 2 ⅛ inches out from the center seam
right here. 2 ⅛ just like that. And we’re going to make our cut. And then we’re going
to come 2 ⅛ inches, let me just turn that right around, from the center seam on the
other side. 2 ⅛ just like this. Just like that. And now we have these three great pieces
like this. And that’s all the cutting we have to do. So we’re making two cuts like
this. We’re going to move this to the outside and put this, these on the outsides. So this
one moves to the middle. So again, I feel like I did it like a shuffling game for you
there. Let me put it back together so you can see what I did. So here’s our pinwheel
because this is something I really don’t want you to lose and I actually just in my
brain occurred an easier way to do this. I think if we turn these outside pieces around
it might work. Ah, it does. So that’s easier, that’s easier for you to see. Alright so
then we’re going to sew this together. And so we’re just going to lay this on here
and sew this piece down.
Ok so once you get your block all done you’re going to head to the ironing board and give
it a press. Make sure it’s nice and flat and then this is your block. It’s gorgeous,
it’s beautiful, it’s quick, it’s easy. It looks like you worked really hard and,
but it’s a great little block. Now one of the things I want to point out is that this
is now a rectangle. Because we only took the seams on two sides it is no longer a square
block. So it’s a rectangle. So then when you go to put them together you’re just
going to put them together side by side by side. You can’t turn the block, it won’t
fit if you turn it. You just have to put it together side by side. So because we have
42 blocks in our pre-cut packet you’re going to have six across and seven rows.
So let’s take a look at how we’re going to put those together. You’re just going
to set them together like this and they will naturally checkerboard right there. And so
you’re going to do six of these in a row and then you’re going to come back along
and add another row doing the exact same thing and then these will automatically checkerboard
as well too. So it’s just a great little project. Let’s look at how this quilt came
together. So you can see we’ve got six blocks up here and seven rows down. And it just,
it’s just magical how much work it looks like you did and yet it’s really, really
fun.
So just a few tips to help this go easier for you. When you’re ready to put your pinwheels
together, make sure they’re all going to same direction, just all going the same direction.
As a matter of fact, I would go ahead and sew all my pinwheels together first. That
will make it easy for you and they’ll all be done. Also when you’re cutting that,
that seam that 2 ⅛ inch seam, it doesn’t have to be perfect because we’re only cutting
on two sides. So you can relax about that and not die over it having to be so perfect.
Anyway I really enjoyed putting this together. I hope you do too. And we hope you enjoyed
this tutorial on the Disappearing Pinwheel 5 from the MSQC.