Summer picnic

Wow! It's already time for another mystery quilt tutorial.  The months are way too short but at least we get 29 days this February.

Sometimes I have to wonder why we make so many quilts.  There are a lot of right answers to this question but one of them has to be; because we love people, especially our families and we want them to feel wrapped up in our love, which makes a quilt a perfect offering don't you think?

We recently added a beautiful granddaughter to our family.  We are grateful to live close enough to be a regular part of her life.  We participated in her blessing several Sundays ago.

 Isn't she sweet?

But, our granddaughter is not what you are here for so let's get to the point.





One of our beautiful daughters made us a wonderful cheesecake for valentines day.  Doesn't it look good?

It was made with a tasty cookie crust, cream cheese center and chocolate ganoche on top.  It was a delightful valentines day dessert.



Oh, that's not why you're here either so let's begin the quilt.

Since we have been having a lot of cloudy, snowy days lately, Becky thought it might be great to get a jump on summer and make a sunshiny picnic quilt.  If you're like us, you don't want to spend a lot of time making detailed little blocks to go into a quilt that will most likely be spread on the ground and have ketchup spilled on it.  So she designed a big block quilt that you can have done in no time at all.

With the latest snowfall this morning, it was tempting to spread the quilt out in the family room and pretend we were basking in the warm, summer sun enjoying watermelon and hamburgers.

Follow the directions for cutting the fabric.

Draw a diagonal line on the back of all of the blue squares.  Match a blue square with a red square, making sure the right sides are together and the outside edges are aligned.

Sew 1/4 inch on each side of the line.  Cut on the line and square up the triangles.  (We love the triangle square up ruler from Quilt in a Day for this step.)  Press the triangle squares open.

Repeat the process using another blue and red square (the same prints).  Sew the resulting four triangle squares together to form a pinwheel block.

Match two identical blue prints with two identical contrast prints to create a total of12 pinwheels.  You will need 6 red and blue and 6 yellow and blue pinwheels.

Border the red and blue pinwheel blocks with the yellow print fabric.

border the yellow and blue pinwheels with the red strips.

Assemble the quilt alternating the red and yellow bordered squares.   The quilt is assembled into four rows with three blocks in each row.  Quilt as desired.  Bind and go picnic!

The march mystery quilt will be made using trendy solids.