July Block of the Month: Pinwheel Sawtooth Star

Hello, my lovely quilters!

Happy July! We are officially past halfway! The block this month is a super simple one, in keeping with my stressed-out life while we’re moving and getting settled. Ha!

For those of you that have been around for a while, you may have noticed how much I love star blocks.  They are my favorite and I can’t stop obsessing about them! This star block is no exception.  It is a pinwheel Sawtooth Star. 

But this month is extra fun because we are using two fabric and time-saving techniques: No Waste Flying Geese and Four at a Time HSTs!

If you’re following along using the fabric requirements for our Sew Easy BOM, you will be using your dark value fabric and your Accent #1 fabric for this block.

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS

BACKGROUND FABRIC ACCENT #1 FABRIC DARK FABRIC
(4) 3 1⁄2” squares (4) 4” squares (1) 5 3⁄4” square
(1) 7 1⁄4” square (1) 5 3⁄4” square

No Waste Flying Geese

The first step is to make four flying geese using the No Waste Flying Geese Method.  First, mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of all the 4” accent fabric squares.

Place the large 7 1/4” background square right side up, then place the 4” accent fabric squares right sides together in opposite corners as shown. The fabric will overlap a bit in the middle. Pin in place and then sew a 1/4” seam on either side of the drawn diagonal line.

Carefully cut directly on the drawn diagonal line.

Press the seams toward the colored fabric. This will create two heart shaped pieces.

Next place the remaining 4” accent fabric squares in the bottom corner of the “heart” shape, right sides together as shown.

***Please note, there really is a drawn diagonal line on these blue fabric squares in the photos. Lighting proved a bit difficult and the pink pen for marking didn’t show up as well as we had hoped.***

Sew a 1/4” seam on either side of the drawn diagonal line.

Do this on both “heart” shaped pieces.

Then carefully cut directly on the drawn diagonal line.

Press the seam toward the colored triangle.  You should now have four flying geese.  Trim them up to 3 1/2” x 6 1/2”.

Center Pinwheel

Next we will make the Four at a Time Half Square Triangles.  This is a great method for making HSTs faster than two at a time. 

Take the 5 3/4” accent fabric and dark fabric squares.  Place them right sides together and pin in place.

Sew a 1/4” seam all the way around the outside of the squares.
Next cut the squares on both diagonals. This separates the square into four triangles with a seam along the long side. Press the seam toward the darker fabric.
Trim up the HSTs to 3 1/2” square. Lay them out to make a pinwheel design by rotating the HSTs until they make a continuous repeating pattern.

Sew the top two HSTs together, pressing seam toward the dark fabric.

Sew the bottom two HSTs together, pressing seams toward the dark fabric.

Then sew the two rows together, pressing the seam open to reduce bulk.

Block Layout

Layout the block as shown in the photo.

Use the 3 1/2” background squares for the corners of the block. Place the pinwheel in the center and place the flying geese on all sides of the pinwheel. Make sure to rotate the flying geese blocks so they create star points coming out of the center of the block.

Sew your block together in rows first. Press the seams in the top and bottom rows away from the flying geese block. Press the seams in the center row toward the center pinwheel.

When you sew the rows together, press the long seams open to reduce bulk.

Congrats! Your block is done!

If you are following along on social media, share your work! I love seeing everyone’s blocks! Share using the hashtag #seweasybom so others can see your blocks too!