#27 Pinwheel Fireworks

#27: Pinwheel Fireworks
Finished: 7/8/12
Techniques: Paper-piecing, Mitered borders, Invisible thread, Pinwheel design
Size: 16 1/2 x 16 1/2"

I'm pleased to say I'm back on track with the mini-quilts! This one was finished on time in its entirety.

I wanted to do something in red, white, and blue to commemorate the fourth of July celebration. This is a design modified slightly from Carol Doak's "365 Foundation Quilt Blocks," which I own. In the book, the design for July 4th was too simple. This is actually the design for July 26; a little more intricate, but one that I could enlarge and sketch out easily onto foundation paper. I liked it because the pinwheel design reminded me of fireworks.

Fireworks have been banned in the city for a number of years now, but in years previously, one would always hear the occasional one go off. I am proud and impressed that I heard NO fireworks go off this year! The recent wildfire must have made a big impression on people who would normally ignore the rules.

I had a variety of star fabrics in blue and red and the red striped fabric all seemed appropriate for the design. The white is a tone-on tone leaf design because I didn't have any white with stars. With the stripe, I felt that a mitered border would be better than overlapping borders. I am really pleased with the way the miter came out. I find that mitered borders are pretty easy to do. The paper-piecing was easy too, although I had some trouble when adding the border. The point at the top of the pinwheel is sharp, but, even though I was trying to be careful, the other points were blunted when I added the border. I think it might have happened when I was squaring up the paper-pieced portion before adding the border. I may not have left the proper amount of seam allowance. A quarter inch can be very small at time.

Quilting was done with invisible thread, which I've never enjoyed working with. It seems to me that when one used invisible thread, it always appears that the fabric has holes in it. However, with the thinness of the quilt batting, I was able to use a small enough needle so that the hole effect was minimized.

The red stripe fabric gives the optical illusion of movement if you stare at it too long. How appropriate for this spinning pinwheel fireworks display. I hope you enjoy this.