Easy Pinwheels

 I've been working on my square a month quilt again lately. This month we did two that required the same ruler, and it's a really cool one! It's by the company "Quilt in a Day" and you can get the ruler for around $15 on Amazon. It's called the Triangle Square Up Ruler.

Supplies:
Light material (2 pieces 2 inches square)
Dark material (2 pieces 2 inches square)

 

First, line up your light and dark material on top of each other with the right sides facing in (wrong sides out). Mark and measure a quarter inch from the center diagonal line on both sides. I like to mark the center too (so you know where to cut later). 

 Pin the material together and sew along the two outside lines (leaving the center for cutting). Cut along the center line to separate the two sections.

 Using your Triangle square up ruler, line up your seam with the 2 inch line and cut off the excess material.

 Press your squares open, with the seam going towards the darker color. Line your 4 squares up in a pinwheel formation. Pin the top two and bottom two together and sew. Again, press the seams towards the dark color. 

Pin the top to the bottom piece and sew the pieces together. To iron, we're going to "pop the seam". Grab the two sides of the material you just sewed and twist the material in opposite directions. You'll notice some of the seams are pulling out and a design (like the one above) shows up in the middle. That means you're doing it right!

Now iron the tow sides towards the dark color again. This will give you a very uniform back. But we're not doing this just for looks, we're doing this so the square lays flat. It's just less bulky this way!

Now flip your square over and you've got your completed square.

You can do all kinds of things with these pinwheels. They make cute baby quilts, or whatever you want! You can use this ruler to make anything you need a half square for. Or you don't have to use the ruler at all. You can also do it by hand. Next week I'll show you another way to use this ruler.