Improvising

I am not a quilt pattern using kind of girl, so sometimes this gets me into some sticky quilting situations. Most recent quilt is a prime example! As you may remember I brought out this pinwheel quilt from the ufo pile.

I finished sewing the triangles together to make about 50 pinwheels. I brought a few pinwheels to Joann's the other day, looking for some neutral fabric to bring this quilt together.

Thankfully my sister came with me and told me how crazy I was to think I could somehow put sashing in between each pinwheel. She also reminded me how much work not using a pattern can create when quilting!  She helped me come up with a great solution though! Squaring off the pinwheels, total light bulb moment! Here are the basics of what I did to turn the six sided pinwheel into a rectangle.

finished pinwheel

fold in half

mark each cutting point

cut along dotted line

both sides have been cut off

I cut up each of the pinwheels in this way. Not all of the finished blocks are the same size, but that is the fun part of improvising!

Check back tomorrow to see these squares and rectangles made into quilt blocks!