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Thursday, October 2, 2014

Baby Batik Pinwheels

I made another scrap quilt from Judy's batiks. This time a cute little baby quilt in watermelon colors-- pinks, purples, and green.


Everything in this quilt is made from 2.5" strips, and I had enough of them to make the quilt 40" square.  I know this isn't an original design, I've seen it before, but it is very flexible and versatile. I am going to put a little mini tutorial down at the bottom about how I did it.


I quilting it with a loose stipple using a variegated pink/purple/teal thread.  Backed with two cute flannels that came from the remnant bin and bound in more green batik strips.


To make this design you start by making rail fence blocks that end up square.  How big you want to make them is based on the fabrics you have to start with and how big you want your final quilt. The bigger the blocks are the further apart the pinwheel will be in the finished top. I went for 8.5" blocks, which equaled (4) 2.5" strips across.  (You could do a 6.5" block with 3 strips, a 10.5" blocks with 5 strips, etc.)


Next you add the pin wheels. The triangles come from rectangles cut on the diagonal. My rectangles were 2"x4" to start with.  The longer and skinner your rectangles are the more pointy your pinwheels will be, the more squarish you rectangle, the closer to diamonds/squares on point the pinwheels will be.


Attach the triangle to opposite corners. Each block uses a matched set of triangles, ie if you put them back together they would make a rectangle. Sew the block together and voila! A cute finished baby quilt.


Not exactly a complete tut but hopefully it gives you enough to start!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

8 comments:

  1. Kat, this is just beautiful!! I made a quilt like this only I made the triangles so they matched up and made a diamond. Your way is MUCH better! I had a heck of a time matching those darn points when I was sewing the rows together :) I just love seeing that those scraps are being put to good use! YAY :D

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  2. Very cute and great way to use scraps. I also like your quilt-holding method!! :) I always have the hardest time getting my quilts up for photographing!

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  3. Those little green stars really make the quilt sparkle. Very cute--nice work!

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  4. I really like those little pinwheels! They'd be a whimsical addition to lots of different block styles. I definitely need to keep that idea in mind. And love the pops of green with the other purple-y colors.

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  5. I totally love it! How much fun to use someone else' scraps to make a quilt. I have given some of my scraps away, and have heard about the finished quilt. So I know how happy Judy must be to see this.

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  6. This was a beautiful quilt, love the coulors !

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