I can’t believe we’re already on Block #6 of the Virtual Quilting Bee!
New to the Virtual Quilting Bee? You can find all the information and earlier tutorials here.
This week our block is called Spin Wheel and was created by Amanda Woodruff of the blog, A Crafty Fox. This tutorial will teach helpful information about Inset Seams.
POST EDIT: Since there has been some confusion with this block, I posted an alternative simplified version for assembling this block here using inset seams. I also made one change in the piece measurements cutting a 3 1/4″ block for the center instead of 3 1/2″. For the rest of the measurements I used Amanda’s.
Hi, I’m Amanda from A Crafty Fox! Today I want to show you how to make the ‘Tilt A Whirl’ block for the amazing Virtual Quilting bee here on Diary of a Quilter.To start, we need to cut our fabrics as follows. You will need three fabrics, light, medium, and dark. This block looks great with high contrast fabrics. (fat eighths or smaller will work just fine) 
(EDIT: Use a 3.25″ light center square instead of a 3.5″ square)
I find the easiest way to make these is to chain piece your flying geese. So you are going to make four right in a row rather than making each one individually. With each dark rectangle, place one light square on the ‘top’. Sew each pair from corner to corner as shown: 
Trim
Finger press your seams open or towards the dark side. Pair each medium square on the opposite side of your rectangles. Sew corner to corner forming a point. 
Trim off the outside corners 
Trim off the outside corners 
Press your flying geese flat. Begin sewing the flying geese around the square. 
Starting at the edge of the fabrics, sew until you are 1/4” from the edge of the light square and stop. 
Being careful not to overlap your seams, make your way around the square, making sure to start and stop 1/4” from the edge of the square. Don’t worry if you sew too far or if your seams overlap, you can just rip out the offending stitches 🙂 
Repeat the steps for the second goose with the third goose: When you come to the fourth goose, you can sew the seam all the way to the edge. Now, we are going to go back and finish all of the inset seams. 
Begin by laying the unfinished edges right sides together: Finish seams until the entire block is sewn. Press and voila! You are done 🙂 This is a really fun block to make. I *may* have made a few extra as I went along. I can’t wait to see it with all of the other gorgeous blocks!
Starting at the edge of the fabrics, sew until you are 1/4” from the edge of the light square and stop. 
Being careful not to overlap your seams, make your way around the square, making sure to start and stop 1/4” from the edge of the square. Don’t worry if you sew too far or if your seams overlap, you can just rip out the offending stitches 🙂 
Repeat the steps for the second goose with the third goose: 
When you come to the fourth goose, you can sew the seam all the way to the edge. 
Now, we are going to go back and finish all of the inset seams. 
Begin by laying the unfinished edges right sides together: 
Finish seams until the entire block is sewn. Press and voila! You are done 🙂 This is a really fun block to make. I *may* have made a few extra as I went along. I can’t wait to see it with all of the other gorgeous blocks! 
Thanks Amanda! I used an alternative and somewhat simpler version of sewing inset seams which you can see here if you’re interested.
Amanda also owns and operates a darling online fabric shop, specializing pre-cuts and bundles in collections from manufacturers who don’t market them such as Michael Miller, FreeSpirit, etc. I recently just got this Fat Eighth bundle of Carolyn Frielander’s Architextures from Westwood Acres.
They also have bundles of Jeni Baker’s Color Me Retro and are taking orders for Fat Quarter and Fat Eighth bundles of Briar Rose! You might want to take a peek.
Finally, it’s been so fun to see the variations of blocks so far on the VQB Flickr page. It’s amazing how the choice in fabrics changes the whole look of the same block! Thanks for playing along!
9 Comments
Alexandra Winston
May 17, 2013 at 6:21 pmCute block! If you sew the flying geese on in a clockwise manner (instead of counterclockwise. so the right one on first like Amanda says, then sew the BOTTOM instead of the TOP) then you only have 1 partial seam.
sfesta
May 19, 2013 at 6:44 pmMany thanks for this suggestion!!! I could NOT wrap my mind around this block and after reading your comment it all clicked 🙂
Megan Lang
May 18, 2013 at 7:19 amThis is very similar to the night vision block I recently used in a quilt I completed. Very nice. I was thinking the same thing a Alexandra (previous comment); you can approach it from the opposite direction and only have to do one in-set rather than three. Another great block for the bee.
Mara Cockman
May 18, 2013 at 3:36 pmTHANK YOU Alexandra! Inset seams are new to me and it was looking pretty confusing….once I applied your tip to my jumbled brain it "seamed" to make for sense. Gonna head to the sewing machine and give it a try. I love that I'm learning new things 🙂
sfesta
May 19, 2013 at 5:37 amAre these measurements correct? When I look at the instructions and draw it out, it gives me a block that's 9", not 8.5". Any assistance would be appreciated–this one is tricky!<br />
New Salem Homestead
May 19, 2013 at 7:26 amsfesta, I made my center square at 3.25 inches and the block comes out at 8.5<br /><br />My block did not work with the center square at 3.5. I also used the instructions given by Alexandra. Hope that helps.
sfesta
May 19, 2013 at 6:44 pmYes! 3.25 worked for me too–thanks for your help 🙂
Lindy
June 9, 2013 at 6:00 pmI really love your examples that you gave doing this block and told us were you got the fabric. These are the kind of colors that I love using they are so wonderful when doing a quilt.
Amy
February 2, 2015 at 10:51 amHow big does this block end up being?