Block 4 - Dutchman's Puzzle

We are in Week 4 of The Spicerack Sampler! And this week our block is the Dutchman's Puzzle!

Click the image to download the PDF of this pattern.

In choosing classic blocks for this collection, I knew I had to have a pinwheel of some sort.  And since I'm keeping these blocks simple in terms of color (I'm doing them all two-toned), I knew I wanted the designs to be somewhat complex.  For me that meant it had to be more than the basic pinwheel.  Enter the Dutchman's Puzzle! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had a winner!  It's a lovely pinwheel/windmill design! Makes sense as windmills are traditional to the land of the Dutch--Holland! 

I have TWO different ways you can put this block together.  Click the image below to see me assemble it on YouTube.

Let's see what we can do with this design in EQ8!

Let's try it with two colors and sashing.

A nice, traditional look. 

But what about this?

This one has a real modern feel!  I decided to color one single block with four shades of the same color family.  One color for each pair of flying geese, ranging from a very light pinkish/orange to a dark reddish/orange.  Then when I placed all the blocks in the design, I randomly rotated them around to come up with a freeform design.

What do you think? Which one do you like best? Let me know in the comments below!

As I've mentioned throughout this series, I whipped up these mock-ups in EQ8.  I am not sponsored by them, but if you click on the Amazon link below, I may get a small commission if you buy something.  You can see my disclosure at the bottom of the blog.  And I just wanted to tell you all how much I'm loving this program! Best purchase I've made in a long time!

So much fun to be had with just the Dutchman's Puzzle block, but for now, I'm moving on to Block 5 for my sampler quilt!

If you're just now joining me in this series, here is a picture of the complete set.  These 12 blocks I'm calling The Spicerack Sampler! They're all classic quilt blocks, but I'm attempting to put a modern spin on each one.  I hope you join me in making these! They range from easy to more challenging, but they're meant to be a skill builder.  I'll walk you through each step and help you add a number of skills to your repertoire!  And these are all traditionally pieced.  No Y-seams, paper templates or foundation paper piecing.

A new block releases every Monday!

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