Pin Wheels and Windmills - Japanese Taupe

I don't even know how long ago I started working on this quilt, but I was inspired by the pictures on the Pink Caramel blog.  The blog post does give much information, but I loved the intertwined windmills, as well as the Japanese taupes.  I can't even say I started working on it with the end goal of making a quilt.  Here's the story of how it came together.

Windmills and French Knots

I started just trying to reconstruct these cute little windmills.  I loved how they came out, but it was tedious.  I'm almost certain the author on Pink Caramel makes hers by hand; I was going at it by machine and the bias edges were giving me grief.

Before long, I tired of making these and felt I would not get very far very fast, but I loved the colors and the look of what I had so far.  So I decided to allow these to morph into your standard pinwheel blocks; much easier and faster to construct. The pinwheel blocks closest to the windmill collection are small, while the ones further out are larger.  Maybe they are coming toward you?

Pinwheel Blocks

I allowed that blue fabric to kind-of bleed out of the windmills, almost like a ball point pen leaked, right up to the edge of the closest pinwheels.

Once the center section was complete, it seemed a little small, so I started adding somewhat randomly pieced borders, similar to what I've seen in medallion-style quilts.  The inner border pattern is one that I saved to try sometime, so this was a good opportunity.

Windmills and Pinwheels Quilt - Borders

To finish the quilt top, I added a large border in a lovely, taupe cotton.  Once I got this outer border on, it seemed too large for the rest of the quilt and I was going to cut it down, but I left it alone to think about it. 

At this point, the quilting was the next decision, but the border was still bothering me a bit.  So, I got to thinking that these windmills and pinwheels seem to be breaking apart, or deconstructing (as my sister calls it), and maybe that could continue into the border.  This might help to make the border size seem appropriate.  So, applique and silhouettes were the answer.  I added some appliqued, detached pinwheels that would appear to pop off the quilt and seem ready to blow away.  I got the chance to practice hand applique, something I've long admired, but am not very good at doing - practice is the only way to get there.  Those triangle tips were a challenge, for sure.

Windmills and Pinwheels of Thread

I decided on big stitch quilting for two reasons.  First, I'd run out of hand work to do while watching TV and, second, I couldn't come up with how to machine quilt it that wouldn't ruin the aesthetic of the center section.  I've done a lot of embroidery over the years, but had never tried big stitch quilting.  In addition to a running stitch for outlining and the pinwheel silhouettes, I used french knots (first photo above) and a few little flower-type elements in the second border.

Windmills and Pinwheels Quilt - applique and big stitch quilting

The final decision was what to do with the quilt.  My sister had seen bit of the quilt during the initial windmill stage and would periodically ask how it was going; she liked the colors and was curious about where I was going with it.  So, about half way through making it, I decided that I would give it to her (if it came out OK).

Windmills and Pinwheels Quilt - Big Stitch Quilting

So I finished it off right before leaving on a two week trip to Australia, and I got it in the mail in time for her to get it the day I left.  She called me while I was boarding the plane, and I could hardly understand what she was saying because she was so pleased.  We didn't get to really talk about it until after my trip, but by then she had the time to live with it a while and share it with other people, who were very complimentary.

Windmills and Pinwheels Quilt - Label

On a side note, after my trip, when we were talking about the quilt, she told me that after receiving this quilt, she was inspired to finish a baby quilt she was over a year late in delivering.  A small error in the piecing process sidelined the project and she never went back to it.  The quilt is lovely and here's a link to it on her blog.  I love how she describes her process for pulling it together and the inspiration she took from this quilt to make it happen.