Fiesta pinwheels

It should not surprise anyone that it is raining here yet again. Just showers, not a storm, but I can't be the only one who's tired of it all. The good news is that it did not rain on commencement, so it was a great day for our graduates and their families. I end this school year grateful for my colleagues, my friends, and my students. I don't know how I got lucky enough to work at a job I love with people I really respect.

The rain has also made the garden EXPLODE, mostly with weeds, so we spent a bunch of time cutting grass, pulling weeds, seeding bare patches, and yanking out the tiny trees that have grown from chestnuts and such that the squirrels buried and forgot. It was a good, though tiring, weekend.

So now it's back to sewing! I am taking the rest of May to recover from the semester, so I will have some extra time to sew. (And clean. And maybe paint the family room.) I was looking around the sewing room this weekend (no, I wasn't cleaning! don't be silly!) and I pulled out this book:

This book is by Amy Ellis, who I just found out also blogs over at Amy's Creative Side. (I must be the last to know this.) This is a fantastic book! I love every pattern in here, in spite of my very mixed feelings about "modern" quilts. The quilts in this book are very creative and done mostly with simple shapes and easy sewing. No set-in seams or anything like that. I have a plan to make the cover quilt, but for now I am drawn to this one:

Digital pinwheels! A great pattern that will make a very nice quilt.

So. . .I love the patterns, but I am not much of a neutrals person. Making 30 beige and tan pinwheels would put me straight to sleep. So I dug out these fun fabrics:

Wow, that will wake you up, won't it? I have enough of the yellow for the background, and made some sample blocks to determine how to use the other colors. This is option 1:

Looks good! Here is option 2:

Hmmm. Could be a better picture, but I like the block. Option 3:

I like them all! I don't know if I can choose a color scheme; they're all so good. What if I put them all together?

Whoa. Party in the sewing room! About as far from neutrals as I can get, I think.

The yellow makes a great background color for this quilt. At first I was sure that I liked the turquoise center best, but now I'm leaning toward the red center. Or maybe all three colors together, because there are 30 blocks and that would allow for an even distribution of colors. I'm not sure! If you'd like to help me out, please leave me a comment.

I may not be sure about the exact color scheme, but I know that I'm planning to call this Fiesta Pinwheels. I think that name says it all. It kind of reminds me of Fiesta ware, the very colorful dishes that I wish I owned.

That's what I'm working on this week! Hope you are working on something festive as well!

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times and  Linky Tuesday and Show and tell Tuesday! Stop by and join the fun!