Freemotion by the River

Twirling Windmills Quilt Tutorial

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Free Quilt tutorial for the Twirly Windmills quilt

Twirling Windmills by the Sea Shore Quilt Tutorial

Windmills on rocks
Twirling Windmills has to be one of the easiest and fastest quilts to make when you cut your batik fabrics with a AccuQuilt GO! Electric cutter. This block reminds me of all of the turbo windmills we have here in Iowa. I’m Connie Campbell and I have a fast and easy tutorial for you.

I thought I would also share it here and also include directions and a template that you can use if you don’t have the AccuQuilt cutter and die – of course if you have the dies, it takes no time at all to cut out your quilt!

If you would like a printable PDF file for the Twirling Windmills by the Sea Shore Quilt Tutorial that include the free templates, fill out the form below.

Twirling Windmills by the Sea Shore Quilt
Finished size is 36″ x 54″

It would be very easy to make this quilt larger or smaller. The finished block size is 12″.

GO! Fabric Cutter: You can use all of them

GO! Cutting Dies:

Fabric:

  • 2 yards light batik for back ground
  • 1/2 yard medium teal batik
  • 1 yard dark teal batik (this includes 1/2 yard for binding)
  • 2 yards backing fabric

Windmills cutting on AccuQuilt Die Cutter

Cutting the blocks with the AccuQuilt dies:

  • Cut 96light batik rectangles with the #55724 rectangle die.
  • Cut 96 light batik half rectangle triangles with the #55411 – die.
  • Cut 48medium batik half rectangles with the #55411 – die.
  • Cut 48dark batik half rectangles with the #55411 – die.

Directions to cut the blocks without using the AccuQuilt dies:

  • Cut 96 light batik rectangles – 3 ½” x 6 ½”.
  • Cut 96 light batik half rectangles with the half rectangle template.
  • Cut 48 medium batik half rectangles with the half rectangle template.
  • Cut 48 dark batik half rectangles with the half rectangle template.

 

Twirling Windmills dies usedI am using batik fabrics from Island Batik, from the Sea Shore collection. The wonderful thing about using batiks is that both sides look the same.

  • Sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance.
  • Follow the diagram below to help piece your blocks.
  • It is so easy to match the pieces with the dog-eared corners.

Windmills dogeared cornersMake 4 sections for each block, press your seams to the light fabric.
Windmills 4 sections

Lay out the 4 sections for each blocks as shown below and then sew together. You have made your first block!
Windmills piece 4 sections

Originally I was going to make a Twirling Windmills crib quilt but I had so much fun making the blocks that I decided to make a larger quilt.

Make 24 Twirling Windmills blocks

Windmills blocks

  • Layout your quilt with 6 rows of 4 blocks alternating the medium teal and dark teal blocks.
  • Layer your backing and batting – quilt as desired.

Windmills on Pine needles

Windmills quilts quilting

I hope you have enjoyed the fast and easy Twirling Windmills tutorial made with the AccuQuilt GO! Fabric Cutter and GO! dies. If you are looking for more ideas for using the GO! Qube Mix & Match 12 inch Block (55778) and the GO! 12 Inch Companion Set you might enjoy some of my previous quilt tutorials.

Twirling Windmills by the Sea Shore Quilt Tutorial

Twirling Windmills quilt

Here is another quilt that I made using the same block but it was a little smaller. I made this as a baby gift and I’m not sure what size the block is. I think I made it with the 6″ Qube set.Baby batik quilt in a tree

Twirling Windmills quilt tutorial is fast and easy to make

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Twirling Windmills quilt tutorial

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi Connie, My friend and I are looking forward to making this beautiful quilt. We don’t have the AccuQuilt and will need to use the template you provided. Although the 1″ square is to scale when printed, it would seem the measurement of the rectangle and half rectangle are not. Can you please confirm that when NOT using the AccuQuilt that the cut measurements of the rectangle is 3 1/2″ x 6 1/2″and half rectangle is the 3 1\2″ x 6 1/2″ rectangle cut on the diagonal. We are hoping the start the project this weekend. Thanks so much.

    Reply

    • The measurements are correct, if you print the page and check “Print Actual Size” – you’ll have the correct measurements of 3½ x 6½. Good luck!

      Reply

  3. Hello Connie! What a lovely quilt you have created! I especially loved the darker teal fabric you chose, but when used with the other fabrics it all worked to splendidly together and created quite a soothing and inviting quilt to snuggle with. Thank you for your great tutorial. If my friend has these templates, I will get them cut out when I see her next week. If not, it will be awhile but I will make it with the templates. Thank you so much for sharing! Have a great day!

    Reply

  4. Love this block/quilt. I have the bloc loc half rectangle that I could use for this. I might get a different size block but I can adjust the rest easily, thanks girlfriend!

    Reply

  7. Thank You so much for sharing this beautiful Quilt + pattern+tutorial too! Beautiful photo of your project!

    Reply

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