Pinwheel Rings
Meet Pinwheel Rings! One of the samples of my patterns that my awesome NQ-LQS (that’s Not Quite Local Quilt Shop, because they’re sadly still an hour away!) Intown Quilters took to QuiltCon in February was sewn up with Christa Watson‘s first fabric line. After Christa saw the sample, she got in touch and asked if I’d be interested in using her next line, Fandangle, to design a pattern.
Christa’s fabric design style totally jibes with my quilt design style, so I was super excited to play with these! Her fabrics tend to be dominated by one color, with geometric patterns to give it some depth, so that the piecing isn’t overwhelmed. And, she included two lovely grays, too—I love it when a fabric line includes muted neutrals for background!
The quilt I designed was inspired by a traditional block, uncreatively called the “Block and Ring” quilt block. I was introduced to it when a friend of mine brought a beautiful antique quilt made by her great-grandmother to a meeting.
Something about this quilt just charmed me to no end, and (with my friend’s permission, of course!) I used it as a jumping-off point for a different take on the block. It’s always so fun to take an old tradition and make it new!
In the end, the new version doesn’t look a whole lot like the original, but that’s part of the fun. This quilt incorporates curved piecing for the circles, but the curves are quite easy and gentle. And, I was really happy to be able to work it out such that only the gray pieces require templates. The pinwheels are all made just with traditional piecing techniques, so it’s relatively easy to put together.
I wanted to emphasize the rings, so I did some echo quilting in the circles and then chose a few different fills for the dark gray background and the pinwheels themselves.
The blocks finish at 12″ square and you have the choice of three different quilt sizes: baby, twin, and queen. As a reminder, you can get 15% off all the new patterns through May 25 by entering code NEWPATTERNS at the shop!
Quilt Stats:
36″ x 48″
Fabric: Fandangle by Christa Watson for Benartex
Batting: Hobbs 80/20
Thread: various colors of Aurifil #50
81,150 stitches (12 spi)
[…] I usually like to let the color do the talking rather than the fabric pattern, and Christa’s fabrics are just right for that. I especially loved that she included two grays, which made this line perfect for the design I had been working on. Her two multicolored prints, which I used in the small pinwheels, are just multicolored enough to tie the whole line together. The quilt I made is called “Pinwheel Rings,” and is based on the “Block and Ring” quilt block I saw in a charming antique quilt. […]