Another Pinwheel Variation Quilt Block Tutorial

I found another variation of a Pinwheel block that I think is interesting. It is fairly easy and quick to sew together. It reminds me of the Duck Tracks block I did a tutorial for awhile back. Let's get started!

Fabric Requirements for an 8" Finished Pinwheel Variation Quilt Block:

• Light/White: 4 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and 4 - 2.5" squares
• Light/Pink: 2 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
• Medium/Green: 2 - 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles
• Dark/Green: 8 - 2.5" squares

Sewing Directions:

Half Flying Geese Units:

Step 1:

Using the two Light/Pink 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, the two Medium/Green 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles, and four Light/White 2.5" squares, sew together four Half Flying Geese units. In the picture below you can see the steps I took. Make sure you have the orientation of the Light/White square correct. You can find my tutorial for making Flying Geese blocks at https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-to-sew-a-basic-flying-geese-block

Step 2:

Here are the four completed units.

Parallelogram Units:

Step 3:

Using the picture below as a reference, sew together a Light/White 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle and a Dark/Green 2.5" square. These steps are half of a Flying Geese block too just with a different orientation from Step 1.

Step 4:

Now you will repeat the process of Step 3 only on the opposite corner of the Light/White 2.5" x 4.5" rectangle as shown in the picture below.

Step 5:

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for a total of four Parallelogram units.

Corner Units:

Step 6:

Match up one Step 2 unit and one Step 5 unit as shown. 

Step 7:

You can see in the picture below that I did repress one seam allowance in the Parallelogram unit so that it would nest nicely with the Half Flying Geese unit. Now you can sew the two units together and press the seam allowance toward the Half Flying Geese unit. Repeat for a total of four Corner units.

Putting It All Together:

Step 8:

Layout the Corner units as shown in the picture below.

Step 9:

From here the block goes together just like a typical Four Patch block. Sew the units into two rows.

Step 10:

Press the seam allowance toward the Half Flying Geese units as shown in the picture below.

Step 11:

All that's left is to sew the two rows together, and...

Step 12:

Press the seam allowance. In the picture below you can see that I pressed using the tweak/twirl/furl method so the block will lay a bit flatter.

Conclusion:

This Pinwheel Variation block went together quickly! It would be easy to convert it to a 12" finished block by just using 3.5" squares and 3.5" x 6.5" rectangles too. I had a few white 2.5" strips leftover from a previous project, so decided to make an 8" block! 

Layout Options:

So here's a few examples of the block done into a quilt. 

This first one is just your standard 4 x 4 layout. I like the way a trellis effect appears as a secondary design. I totally didn't expect that!

In this example, the Pinwheel Variation alternates with a Snowball block. I do like how this turned out - not so busy.  This would be a great way to showcase some applique, embroidery or fancy quilting! 

In this example, I just added 1" sashing and cornerstones. Still a nice look and not so many seams to match up!

I hope you've enjoyed this Pinwheel Variation quilt block. If you liked this post and want to see more quilting tutorials like this, simply click here to sign up for my newsletter and also receive a free PDF quilt pattern called Chained Weathervane.

Happy Quilting!

Elaine

P.S. To print a PDF of this tutorial, check out the free app at https://www.printfriendly.com/. 

P.P.S. To figure out yardage for a quilt, check out this post: https://fabric406.com/blogs/fabric406-blog/how-much-fabric-do-i-need