In April, I taught my Kaleidoscopic Pinwheels class for the West Sound Quilters in Port Orchard WA and also in March at the Emerald Valley Quilters’ Guild in Eugene, OR. My method is based upon Bethany Reynold’s Stack ‘N Whack technique which I modified so that the pinwheels float on the background rather than coming all the way to the edges of the blocks. This means that if there are inaccuracies around the outside of the blocks they may be trimmed to make all the blocks the same size without losing the pinwheel points. Everyone is successful and it’s easy for new quilters too. It’s a fun workshop in which students get instant gratification after cutting their eight identical squares into triangles and arranging the sets of eight triangles into pinwheels. You can’t predict how the pinwheels will turn out until you lay them out and it’s a delight to see what emerges. Here are some examples.
As you can see, the patterns created are beautiful and it’s hard to believe that each set comes from just one fabric. Here’s a selection of finished blocks made in the West Sound Quilters’ workshop. Note the float between the pinwheel points and the block edges, which makes the pinwheel pop even more. Aren’t they fun!
