Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler - Wacky Pinwheel

It is a dark and stormy afternoon.  It feels like the first day of summer vacation.  Two weeks in, I finally have a day without training or workshops of any kind.  I have very much enjoyed the workshops and training, it just hasn't started to feel like vacation until now.  In celebration of the start of summer.  I tidied up the sewing room and pulled out the yellow scraps.
This block was one that I pinned to my Pinterest page.  It links back to AZPatch.com where it was a block of the month in 2002. It was for a different size block though, so I've got some instructions for making it in a 6 inch size.

 I started with 3.5 inch strips from the scrap basket.  You could also use 1.5 inch strips if you have those on hand.  Choose a dark and a light yellow.

 You will need 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips -- 4 dark and 4 light.  You will also need 4 strips that are 1.5 by 2.5 to make the center strip.

 Take 4 dark and 4 light pieces which are 2.5 inches in length str and place them right sides together but perpendicular to one another.  What you are doing is joining the two strips much like you would two pieces of binding.

I saw the cutest post on Monday about joining binding.  It said, imagine the two pieces of binding as the two legs of a pair of mens pants.  When you sew, you will always sew across the waistband of the pants.  Never through the crotch!  When I sewed mine together the first time, they were wrong, and as I unstitched them, I kept thinking about the poor pants with a seam through crotch region.  My stitches weren't showing up very well so I used a washable marker to show you where the stitches go.

 Open up your ends and press flat with the seams going toward the dark.  There will be a triangle behind to trim away.  Measure your strip to make sure it is 3.5 inches to match the others.

 Now take the dark and light rectangles and arrange them on either side of your pieced middle section. Make sure the short side of the dark faces the dark and the short side of the yellow faces the yellow.  This will give your block that distinctive pinwheel point.

 Sew all three pieces together for each of the four sections.

 Next, arrange your four sections as shown in the picture.  Notice that the long dark rectangle rotates around the center pivot point.

Sew the together the subsections as you would for a four patch, making sure to open and rotate the center seam to reduce bulk