What's the Most Important Thing When Making a Quilt?

Patience, I think is the most important thing, because at every step, you need to be paying attention and doing it right. Otherwise, your finished product wont look as you envision it. What else is important? Cutting straight lines, sewing straight seems and IRONING Everything!

Pinwheel Quilts

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  Bright and whimsical

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  Big Pinwheels are lots of fun

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  Small Pinwheels add magic

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  Pinwheels add color and playfulness

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  A variation on small pinwheels

Making pinwheels is easy, too!

Large Pinwheels

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  Each corner is made of 4 pieces

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  2-3 1/2" quarter squares, a 4-1/2" half square and a rectangle

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  You can select the tools that work best for you

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  Working from strips is the easiest way I have found.

Creating each half of the square separately, all of your 1/2 square triangle and end strips, and then your quarter square triangle side, before assembling each block is the simplest way to construct this larger triangle design. Once each 'corner' is completed, you go on to put 4 corners together to create each pinwheel. I used sashing between each of my pinwheels, as I thought it made them stand out more. 

Small Pinwheels are easier still!

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  Small pinwheels are simply half-square triangle squares

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  4 half-square triangles make a pinwheel

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  Seams should be set together at opposites, so that they 'nest together' for tight corners and centers.

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  Sewn together to create a pinwheel design

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  Another option - adding additional half-square triangles and background fabric for a different pinwheel look

Small pinwheels are very easy to make, following the diagram. It's either 4 half-square triangles sewn together in the pattern, or you can make the small pinwheel into a bigger pinwheel block (here I have created 12" blocks,) by cutting out 3-1/2" half-square triangles (finish at 3"), in the figured light turquoise and plain darker turquoise, and having selected a block background fabric (I used the same for the whole quilt), made an additional 4 background and figured light fabric 1/2 square triangles, as well as 3-1/2" (finish at 3") background blocks. Iron the backs of the 1/2 square triangles to the darker fabric, and when assembling, the ironed backs should have the seams ironed to the opposite sides, allowing you to 'next the fabric together making a smoother quilt, with sharp corners and centers.

My First Quilt

The first quilt that I made, from scratch, I didn't take photos of during the process. This is actually true of the first dozen or actually several dozen that I made. I don't have any photo's of most of them, and as it was more than 20 years ago, very few of them are still around in any shape to take photos of.

The first quilt was a Christmas quilt for my parents. At the time, I lived in an efficiency apartment, and the quilt was for a double/queen sized bed. Yep, it was a little tight, but you can do anything you set your mind to, at least I can. 

I started with graph paper. I knew how long and wide I wanted to make it, decided on the individual square size, (quilts can be about the math) defined the quilt upon the graph paper, and then built my tree from star to skirt within those confines. Did it work perfectly the first time? Nope. Did I waste a lot of paper? Maybe, but it depends on your definition of waste. Did I learn a lot? You bet I did. Once it was right on paper, I began the process of actually putting it together.

I purchased a lot of remnants (many fabric stores sell small pieces of fabric at a discount), and lots of fabric, though most of it at just a quarter yard at a time. Back when I was doing this, you couldn't find Fat Quarters, or other quilting supplies. With my fabric, scissors and pattern (a card board square, to draw on the fabric) ready, I started cutting and sewing.

My First Quilt