Sixteen blocks, each one different from the last, set four by four so the triangles inside them appear to turn as your eye travels across the top. It finishes at 32" square, which is a generous wall hanging, a cot quilt or a very handsome piece of decoration for a room that needs something. Make only the first nine blocks instead and you have a 24" square, which is the right size for a large cushion front, a mini quilt or a doll quilt.
The blocks are foundation paper pieced, and that is what keeps the angles honest. Each of the sixteen has its own template, printed at 100% and sewn in numerical order, so the narrow points and the shifting angles that would be awkward to cut and match by hand instead follow a printed line. Once a block is sewn it gets trimmed a quarter inch outside the black line, which brings it to 8 1/2" square unfinished and 8" finished, and then the papers come away. Four fat quarters carry the colour, with a yard of background fabric behind them, and the pressing is worth noting: seam allowances open throughout, block seams pressed to the right in the even numbered rows and to the left in the odd ones so the joins nest, and the row seams open.
Here is why this one is worth making:
- Sixteen unique blocks, with nothing repeated. Every template is its own drawing rather than one block rotated four times, and that is exactly why the spin carries across the whole quilt instead of resolving into a tidy pinwheel. It also means the making stays interesting from the first block to the last.
- Paper piecing does the difficult measuring for you. Sewing on a printed line puts the points where the design says they go, with no template cutting and no bias edges to coax into place. Shorten your stitch length so the papers tear away cleanly, and cut each piece larger than looks necessary, because trimming after sewing is part of the method rather than a sign that something went wrong.
- Two finished sizes from the same set of templates. Nine blocks make 24" square and all sixteen make 32", so you can decide what the quilt is for after you have started. The templates draw the finished edge rather than the cut edge, which is also what lets you scale the whole thing up or down if your printer will oblige.
Finished quilt size: 32" x 32", or 24" x 24" using nine blocks
Techniques: Foundation paper piecing, open seams, nested row joins
One practical note before you cut. Each template page carries a one inch box printed on it for scale, so check that box with a ruler on your first printed sheet. If it measures a true inch, every block will come out at 8" finished and the rows will meet without argument.
You can download the full pattern here: Download the free pattern (PDF)
Happy quilting!
