Here we are! I'm linked up with Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt project. How much fun is it seeing other quilters' posts and pictures and chatting with each other? Thanks for your comments! I'm loving the party!
Clue 3 is getting sewn up. Check out my cutting post for this clue, if you want. For the size I'm making, I needed to end up with 100 1/2 square triangle blocks and 25 pinwheels. The 1/2 square triangle blocks are done. Woo hoo!
I had a lot of the fall leaf fabric that made enough squares to do the pinwheels. They are all set in stacks of 4 on the bottom half of the photo.
I really thought that the main tone in this fabric was an orange but now that it's cut up, it has many colors that are featured. Since all of this fabric will be in every pinwheel, I hope the color variation will look ok. What do you think?
On to making pinwheels! The blocks are all sewn together like this. I had the gold pointing to the upper left on the top half and to the upper right on the bottom half. Flip the top block, right side down, onto the lower block.
Notice where the dog ears are. They should be in the same corner or on opposite corners, depending on how you cut your triangles. Mine are both in the corner under my finger. Also, when you put the squares together, you can feel the seams snugging up next to each other. That will give a nice look when it's sewed. The side to stitch is that top edge. I had to rip seams and start over enough times to remember to pay attention to that detail! haha!
I get chain sewing and after about 4 or 5 sets are done, I put two aside as my last block to do. Since I like to pull sets out and make them into full blocks before all the chain sewing is done, this lets me have reference pieces, if needed.
The sets come out and need some dog ear trimming. You could skip that step but I have found that it is better in the long run to get rid of that bulk. Finger press the seam up; all seams go towards the orange triangles.
When you put the halves together, have the top seam fold pointing towards the needle. That way, the center points snug up since the top seam gets pushed into the lower one. If you have it the other way, like the way it is in the next photo, the center points could be pushed apart a little. Does that make sense?
You can feel all the seams in the blocks "marrying" due to the way it was pressed. You can pin this or just slip it under the foot and sew. I skip the pinning, sew the to center, make sure my other end is lined up, and then finish sewing the other half.
When the pinwheel block is together, the back needs some attention. We are dealing with lots of fabric at the center so spinning out the seams helps cut down the bulk a lot. The seams will flow with the direction the triangles are pointing. Mine spin clockwise. Two of the seams will be fine but the other two will need coaxing. In my photo, the right one needs to go down and the left one needs to go up. If they resist in the center, you might need to pick a stitch out of there to help them lay down. Once they "spin", press the back and then the front to help it behave!
I don't know how Bonnie's pinwheels come out so perfectly, but here's one of mine. Not quite the way she described, but I am happy with it!
My Clue 3 is ready! 100 1/2 square triangle blocks and 25 pinwheels. The first 4 that I made were pointing counter-clockwise, and then I checked the clue, which shows them pointing clockwise, so I changed over to match the clue. hopefully, those 4 unique ones can go in the corners or the center or something. I'm sure it will look fine!
My mom told me that every quilt needs something in it, call it a mistake if you want, that makes it your own. My 4 counter-clockwise pinwheels are my "somethings" that will make it mine!
I hope you've been able to get something useful out of my pinwheel breakdown. I'd love to hear your comments. Happy mystery-quilting!
4 comments:
Your colour variation should be interesting.
I had awful trouble sewing those triangles, so congratulations on having yours all done already.
Beautiful blocks and the fall fabrics are perfect!
I liked your pinwheel breakdown. Good job.
Well done. I am yet to start sewing. This will help
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