March – First month- What is a Whirligig?
Welcome to the SFMQG Modern Whirligig Quilt-a-long! Our QAL for 2022 is a modern, scrap-happy improv. What makes this special is YOUR input. You get to choose the fabrics and layout with the monthly prompts to make a beautiful quilt all your own. Let’s get started!
First things first – what exactly is a whirligig?
A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one part that spins or whirls. A whirligig can also be a pinwheel, spinning top, buzzer, comic weather-vane, gee-haw, spinner, whirlygig, whirlijig, whirlyjig, whirlybird, or simply a whirly. Whirligigs are most commonly powered by the wind but can be hand, friction, or motor powered. They can be used as a kinetic garden ornament. They can also be designed to transmit sound and vibration into the ground to repel burrowing rodents in yards.
A whirligig generally combines the functions of a weather-vane and a windmill. To be more specific, it’s basically a weather-vane with a windmill on one side to help it catch the wind better. Many experts believe the whirligig is very old, dating back as far as the 1100's. Although whirligigs are made to have a practical purpose in showing wind direction, they’ve become more associated with their use in yard ornamentation and as children’s toys. Many have artistic or amusing designs so that the windmill function drives mechanical movements in wooden figures shaped like people or animals.
Sometimes a whirligig is made so that the figure's arms are the windmills, but they can also be a bit more complex than that. Some are made to harness the power of the wind and use it to drive complex mechanical movements. For example, a whirligig could be made with a figure sitting on a bicycle. The windmill would capture the wind power and cause the figure to pedal the bike, possibly even making the wheels turn.
What will you need?
1. SCRAPS. Go through your scrap bin and separate your scraps by color. It’s also fun to use orphan quilt blocks or pieces of old projects. Why not use those extra strips from that table runner or binding?
2. 1 ½ yards of solid or low volume neutral fabric for solid sections and inclusion in your scrappy blocks.
3. A sense of adventure.
HOW TO START THE QUILT-A-LONG
1. Divide and separate your scraps by color. I always use a lot of color in my quilts, but you could just use two colors.
2. We will be using the “made fabric” technique popularized by Victoria Findlay Wolfe in her book “15 Minutes of Play” (FYI, you don’t need the book to participate, but I highly recommend checking out her website for inspiration.
3. For the next two months, we will be making our “made fabric” blocks to use for our design. To make a scrappy block, pick a color and use your scraps to create a block that is 12 ½ inches square. For the first month, you will make FOUR 12 ½ inch scrappy blocks in various colors (I suggest using contrasting colors). Also, you need to take out some small strips or pieces from your background color/ neutral color to use in your blocks. Make them small blips on the radar -this will make your final quilt top sparkle as the background/ neutrals connect to your background once its sewn. Here’s some examples of my WIP blocks.
4. Ready – set – SEW!!
Don’t forget to post your quilt blocks to our Facebook Group and your Instagram page with the hashtag #sfmqgqal2022
Patti