Windmills

This quick and easy baby quilt uses rectangles and no templates to make a fun windmill quilt.

SKILL LEVEL

Confident Beginner

FINISHED SIZES

Quilt Size: 41" x 55" Block Size: 7" x 7" Number of Blocks: 35

MATERIALS

• 11/ 8 yards white tonal

• 4 different 5" x 10" rectangles in each of nine colors in prints and tonals (36 total)

• 5/ 8 yards blue print

• 1/ 3 yard yellow dot

• Backing to size

• Batting to size

• Thread

• Basic sewing tools and supplies

PROJECT NOTES

Read all instructions before beginning this project.

Stitch right sides together using a 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise specified.

Materials and cutting lists assume 40" of usable fabric width for yardage and 20" for fat eighths.

WOF – width of fabric

HST – half-square triangle

QST – quarter-square triangle

CUTTING

From white tonal cut:

• 72 (4" x 41/2") A rectangles

From each 5" x 10" rectangle cut:

• 2 (4" x 41/2") B rectangles (72 total)

From blue print cut:

• 5 (31/2" x WOF) strips, stitch short ends to short ends, then subcut into:

2 (31/2" x 491/2") C and

2 (31/2" x 411/2") D border strips

From yellow dot cut:

• 5 (21/4" x WOF) binding strips

COMPLETING THE WINDMILL BLOCKS

1. Place eight B rectangles of one color set right side up on work surface.

2. Place a white A rectangle right side up atop each B rectangle with raw edges even.

3. Referring to Figure 1, measure and mark dots along the 41/2" edges 2" from the top

left corner and 2" from the bottom right corner. Draw a line connecting the dots and cut both rectangles on the line. Keep all pairs intact.

4. Working with one pair of A and B pieces from step 3, flip B to the wrong side and rotate it so that the wide end is at the narrow end of A and the right edges are aligned as shown in Figure 2a.

Sew the A and B pieces, right sides together, along the previously cut bias edge as shown in Figure 2b. Press the seam toward B.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining pairs to make 16 A-B units of one color set.

7. Sort the A-B units into four groups of four different prints each. Referring to the block diagram, arrange and sew each group into a block and press.

8. Repeat steps 1–7 with the remaining color sets to make 36 blocks, four of each color. Set aside one block for another use.

COMPLETING THE QUILT

Refer to the Assembly Diagram for steps 1 and 2.

1. Arrange 35 blocks into seven rows of five blocks each. Sew

the blocks into rows and sew the rows together to complete the quilt center.

2. Sew the C border strips to the sides of the quilt center and the D border strips to the top and bottom as shown to complete the quilt top.

3. Layer, quilt as desired and bind the quilt referring to Quilting Basics. QW