Jolly Pinwheels–a Jolly Bar free quilt pattern

Have you heard about the new Jolly Bar precut?  The Jolly Bar is a 5” x 10” precut that is exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop.  You can see all of the Jolly Bars available here.  I got the chance to play with this Boathouse (by Sweetwater) Jolly Bar last week and see what fun idea I could come up with.

Before I show you the finished quilt, I want to show you these fabulous Boathouse fabrics.  I’ve always loved nautical prints and colors and this line is right up my alley.

The quilt I designed is called Jolly Pinwheels and I’ve created a free downloadable (and printable) pattern as well!  The finished quilt measures 57” x 63.”  It was fun to work with a precut that fell between the charm pack and the layer cake.  Sometimes I find that the charm square is too small for what I want, and the layer cake is just too big.  It's nice to have another option now!

The Jolly Pinwheels pattern shows a fast and easy way to make the half square triangles (used on the top and bottom borders) at the same time you’re making the blocks.  

I wanted to give the appearance of wind swirling around the pinwheels so I quilted it with all over swirls.

My youngest son and I went down to the lake near our house the other day to see if it was frozen yet (and to throw rocks, of course!) and I brought the quilt along to get some photos.  It was such a gorgeous, clear day and the water was so perfectly calm.  

The harbor area was a bit frozen – the smaller rocks we threw sat on top of the ice, but larger rocks smashed right through with a very satisfying sound.  We had a fun hour down at the lake and honestly if you're needing to take photos of a nautical quilt you really should head to the nearest body of water, right?  

You can find the free pattern here  or print it right from the window below.  If you make a Jolly Pinwheels quilt I’d love to see it!  To see the other Jolly Bars available, click here.  Would you like to win one?  The Fat Quarter shop is giving away a Jolly Bar to one of my lovely readers!  To enter the giveaway for a Jolly Bar of your choice, just leave a comment below.  Any ol' comment at all.  That's it!  Giveaway will be open until Saturday, November 29th at midnight.  I'll announce the winner here on Monday Dec 1st.

Giveaway is now closed -thank you!  

Be sure to stop by and see the other Jolly Bar quilts created by some other blogging friends:

Amy from Diary of a Quilter
Dana from Old Red Barn Co.
Denise from Pieced Brain
Vickie from Spun Sugar Quilts
Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts
Stephanie from The Modern Sewciety