Hive 3 June Tutorial: Pinwheel Star

Hello my fellow bee mates!

If this hasn’t been the craziest year ever, I don’t know what is. That being said, we’ve already made it to June and I am the queen bee this month. My name is Marian. I live in the Madison, Wisconsin area with my husband and three kids (ages 15, 13, and 12) who are about to finish online school. My husband and I are both working from home for the foreseeable future and are keeping to ourselves. Luckily the weather has finally decided to be summer and it provides opportunities to go on bright sunny walks. I hope this post finds you all healthy and finding your way in our new “normal.”  I know that sewing has been helping to keep me happy. I hope you can say the same.

A couple of months back, I saw this block offered for free by Heather over at https://thesewingloftblog.com/. The minute I saw it, it made me smile. So I asked you all to download it so we would all be able to make this block. I am asking you to please make one 12” by 12” block (unfinished 12 ½” x 12 ½”) for me.

I am looking forward to seeing these blocks in a rainbow of colors so I would like you to think ROYGBIV when you pull fabrics. In addition to a standard rainbow I would like pink and turquoise blocks as well. When you pull fabrics, please grab saturated fabrics that scream out your color choice. I invite all types of fabrics, including novelties, as long as they read the color you choose. You may use a solid, but if you choose to include a solid, please only use it as one of your fabric choices. I would like the finished quilt to look nice and scrappy with lots of fun fabrics.

In order to ensure I get a range of colored blocks, I am asking you to please tag me on Instagram (swimmingwith3) to specify which color you will be making. Color selections will be on a first come / first serve basis, so if someone has already claimed the color you want, I will ask you to please choose an alternate color.
Here are the color selections I need:
1 Pink
2 Red
1 Orange
2 1 Yellow
2 Green
1 Turquoise
1 Blue
1 Purple

This block pattern has 4 shades of the color in it. You can play around with this and pull 4-6 different fabrics in your selected color. You’ll need to choose light, medium and dark values of your selected color. Of your selected fabrics you need 1-2 light fabrics to create the friendship star effect in the middle of the pinwheel. The rest of your fabric selections can be medium or dark versions of your color. In addition to your colored fabrics, you’ll need 1 neutral fabric.

Here are some examples of fabrics I’ve pulled:

 (That Tula Pink fabric on the right has a lot of red and pink in it, but when it is mixed with other orange fabrics, it reads as orange so that works.)

For the neutral color (in the block pattern, it’s white) I will accept solid white or cream, or tone on tone white or cream.

The cream and white plaid on the left is acceptable because it’s a combination of cream and white. I don’t want any other colors brought in for the neutral color.

For that reason, the low volume prints below are an example of what I DO NOT WANT used for the background:

Now for the construction!
When you select fabrics, you’ll need to choose light, medium and dark values of your selected color. Once you’ve selected these, you need to cut:
Two 5” squares of dark
Two 5” squares of medium
Two 5” squares of light and
Two 5” squares and one 4.5” square blocks in your neutral color (white or cream).
The eight 5” squares will become eight half square triangles (HST). The one neutral 4.5” block will be the center of the circle.
You will combine the blocks in this way:
One DARK fabric square sewn to one NEUTRAL fabric square
One MEDIUM fabric square  sewn to one NEUTRAL fabric square
One DARK fabric square  sewn to one LIGHT fabric square
One MEDIUM fabric square  sewn to one LIGHT fabric square

My preferred method of making HST is the two at a time method.
Starting with the one dark square and one neutral square, draw a diagonal light on the neutral fabric. Then put the two squares right sides together. Sew a ¼” seam on each side of the drawn line. Use the line as a guide for cutting the triangles apart.

If you want to use more than 4 fabrics, cut the square on a diagonal to make a triangle. Then match two triangles together and sew them on the long horizontal seam. Fabrics cut on the diagonal create a bias edge. The bias (diagonal) can stretch out of shape. To avoid this, just place the two triangles you want together gently, and handle them with care. Do not tug on them as you match them up or sew them together. If you handle the triangles gently, the bias edge should not create any problems.

Once the HSTs are sewn together, open them and press using your preferred method. Because there is a light neutral fabric in the block, I recommend pressing to the dark side, however, pressing seams open works as well.

Then you need to square up the blocks. All eight HST blocks need to measure 4.5” square. Use your ruler to make sure the blocks are trimmed and the dog ears are removed.

Lay the blocks out so that the four corners are white and so that around the white center block a friendship star emerges. The lightest orange fabric in my block creates a four pointed star.
Once you have the squares laid out, sew the blocks together to complete the finished block.

TIP: It helps to iron the seams in the middle row to the right. Then iron the seams in the top and bottom row to the left. This helps because when you lay the rows together to sew them, the seams from the two different rows will be going in different directions so they will nest. When it’s sewn together, iron the block and you are done!

I hope you have fun making this block and I can’t wait to see my happy rainbow come together! Thank you for participating. I really look forward to seeing what you make.

Take care, stay healthy, and be safe!

Marian