A scrappy Sunday - Disappearing pinwheel blocks

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend!

It's late afternoon this side of the globe. It has been a hot and humid day; +30C / 86F and 75% humidity. A perfect day for sewing! :) 

To me plans almost always fail, so I have given up making plans! I had in mind to do something else today, but... I watched a video tutorial last night,  recommended by Deb who commented on my previous post. The tutorial is how to make disappearing pinwheel blocks. I'm familiar with 'disappearing 4-patch' and 'disappearing 9-patch', but 'disappearing pinwheel'? No! It really caught my attention and I just had to try!

I pulled out different fabrics and a floral cream tone-on-tone. 

The tutorial uses two 'layer cakes' (10 inch squares). If you don't have any, simply cut your own squares. These blocks are perfect for a scrappy look. 

Make one pinwheel block.... 

.... and then, after cutting and shuffling; 

VOILA! 

This is my first block.

It can also be made like this; 

... or this...

It's addictive! I've made 4 blocks today! 

Not sure I like this one, it's too busy I think... haven't sewn it together so maybe I will re-arrange it..

Another one...

The last one...

The cream tone-on-tone looks good for a 'clean' look, but I want it a bit more scrappy so I used another light fabric, with sliced bananas! :) 

Love using up bits and pieces and as I said above; perfect for a scrappy look. I have yet to decide on how I want the blocks and the size of the quilt - yes, it's going to be a scrappy quilt. :) 

Deb, thanks so much for recommending this tutorial! 

They are really fun to make! If you want to give it a try, click here for the tutorial. 

It's a beginning! Postage Stamp Quilt Charm Swap 2012-2013 and a new project

Over the last couple of years I have participated in the Postage Stamp Quilt Charm Swap hosted by Mary over at The Curious Quilter. 

My swap partners are from the US, Canada, Australia, Croatia, Sweden and a couple of private swaps from Germany and Malaysia. 

In 2012 & 2013 I didn't have time to start working on these squares. At the end of last year, after the last 2013 swap, I decided I will work on them from the beginning of this year. So far I have kept my promise! :) 

Well, it is not fully true that I didn't work on the squares last year; I did sort about 400 squares on colors. It's a tedious job, I got bored and put it all away. Christmas and New Year came and went and  in the beginning of January I pulled out all the packages containing 100 squares of 2.5 inch each. 

Here are some of them...

About 3000 2.5 inch charms sorted on colors

A couple of weeks ago I started sewing some of the charms together

7 blocks - 36 squares in each blocks - 252 squares - so far! :) 

I hate plans (they always fail!), but I hope to do one block per day or 2-3 blocks per week. I still have yet to decide on size and how I want to assemble the blocks

I've had these beautiful layer cakes sitting on the shelf since 2009/2010 (if not mistaken)!!!  The idea was to make Bunny Hill's 'A Tisket, A Tasket', but that never happened! 

The layer cakes are

1) Aviary by 3 Sisters

2) Beach House by Blackbird Designs

My idea is to cut each 10 inch squares into four 5 inch squares, mix them all and make a twin quilt - 54 x 90 inches - but that may change! :) Whatever it turns out to be, I have to buy backing... in spite of being on SSD! (Strict Stash Diet!) :) 

I have yet to take photos of several items I've finished this month; hope to do that during the weekend.