A few months ago some friends and I planned a little quilting day.  We had talked about this some time ago when we went to Stacy’s house to make a dress.  Unfortunately, Jess didn’t get to make it to the quilting day, and she was greatly missed!

Stacy’s finished quilt.

Since Stacy and I were expecting, this was a fun time for making a baby quilt!  The girls picked out the pin-wheel pattern which is easily made using a jelly-roll.  You can order one or pick one up at your local sewing supply store.  We enjoyed visiting with Stacy and her kids!  The kids always enjoy being together and almost “non-supervised” play days, I think they like best!   We stayed so busy I didn’t take any pictures of the kids!  You’ll just have to take my word for it that they were here!

My finished quilt.

You may also want to check out the You-tube video demonstration.

Well here we go…get out your jelly-roll!

Group your strips into 4′s and sew them lengthwise together.  You can take time to match them, or just take them off the roll in order and see what you come up with.  You should wind up with 5 groups of 4 strips.

You then need to trim strips to  blocks to 8 inches square.  A cutting mat and rotary cutter are essential!  How did our grandmothers do this without them!!!

This is what they look like.

You should get 4 or 5 per strip, for some reason, I can’t remember! Oops!  Lay them in matching groups.

Pick from different piles 2 different squares and lay them right sides together with the strips going opposite directions.  (this is important to make the pin-wheel!)

I laid them all out to make sewing them easier.  You should have 12 blocks and one square.

Sew 1/4 inch all the way around the whole square.  Complete all other 12 blocks the same way.

 After all are sewn, get out your cutter , mat and ruler again and cut diagonally an x on your blocks.

It should look like this.  Keep all you blocks together…DON”T MIX THEM UP!

Open them and press the seams.

This is what your pin wheel will look like!

After you have done all other blocks, you simply sew your 4 pieces together to make your square (1/4 inch seam).  Press your seams.

When you have all your blocks sewn and pressed you will need to trim them to 9 1/2 inches.

These are your finished blocks, ready to put together!  You should have 12 of them.

I love to use a jelly-roll in quilting, it is so easy to use and there is very little scraps left over.

Sew blocks into strips, press, then sew your strips together and press.

There you have it your finished top!  I completed it with a matching 5 inch border.  Pick out a coordinating fabric for your backing and trim and find a local quilter to finish it out!  That’s as far as I can take it!  A special thanks goes out to Teresia and Shirley, some of our neighbors who saw my quilt on Facebook and volunteered to quilt and bind it for me!  It turned out beautiful…and just in time for baby!