Li'l Twister~ what is it and why do you need it?

 Hello friends, 

Recently I was tidying up my quilt room. I started sorting through all my rulers and gadgets, and realized that I have a bit of a problem! I love getting new rulers and specialty templates and gadgets, but I'm not very good about actually using them. So I am going to remedy that by learning to use all those gadgets and rulers and templates and sharing the results right here on my blog once in a while!

This time I am sharing a new- to- me gadget, the L'il Twister.  This has been around for a few years, but I only recently got my hands on one. The idea behind this tool is that you sew your squares together, add borders, and then place and cut around the template to make your twisted blocks. Super simple and very fun! 

For my first attempt I picked out a charm pack by Lella Boutique and set to work sewing the squares together. 

Then it was time to add a border....I found this cute fabric that I thought would work well... 

And then it was time for the fun part: Using the L'il Twister tool to cut squares! 

The instructions are super easy to follow and you just place your template on the correct seams and cut away...

The only thing I found a little tricky was moving around my work area to cut on all 4 sides of the template. Next time I might choose to do this part of a table so I can more easily walk around.

 You work your way all along your first row and then move onto the second row. Really, the instructions couldn't be simpler! As you cut your squares, you can straighten them out and lay them ( in the exact same order you cut them) by your sewing machine . When you are all done, your worktable will look like this: 

And after you trim off the little bits and bobs so that the leftovers can be used as scraps in another project, you will be left with this look....

Hahahahahaha!

Okay, your squares are now ready to be sewn together into their little pinwheel blocks!

Don't they look fun? 

You sew all your blocks into rows and then sew your rows together, and you end up with something like this: 

At this point there are no more instructions with the L'il Twister tool so now you are on your own! I decided to add some borders to my little quilt so chose a fun grey stripe and some more floral fabric that felt Spring-y to me. 

Fun fact: The striped fabric and the floral fabric both came from my stash, and are all by the same designer as the charm pack I used in the center, but from different fabric lines. I had no idea they were all by the same person, but got suspicious when they all went so well together and so investigated the selvedges. I would have preferred a mitered corner on my borders, but seeing as I only had a FQ of the striped fabric, and there was NO way I was going to piece that and try to match those stripes to make a longer piece, I decided to go with this look instead!

Because I really, really wanted to finish this quilt quickly ( and because I have just a few other handquilting projects on the go already (*insert eyeroll here)), I decided to quilt this one by machine. 

I used my circle templates and my blue water erasable marker to mark 2 concentric circles on every other pinwheel, and quilted those, as well as quilting next to the ditch on the border fabric. 

 I found a dark grey that I thought would go well with my stripey fabric to use for the binding( and yes, you guessed it, it was made by the same designer!) and had a marathon binding section so that I could take pictures to share with you! And here is the final result! 

Turned out pretty cute and I am excited to make another one with different fabrics!

By the way, did you know that this Twister template now comes in 6 different sizes?? You can use a piece of fabric as small as 2.5 inches ( or mini charm square) all the way up to a 10 inch square! I saw some awfully cute patterns  to make pouches using the mini twister tool! And there is a pattern to make a gnome ( squeal!!) twister quilt!

I know that this Twister template has been around for a while so am curious as to how many of you have made your own Twister quilt? Tell me in the comments!

For your convenience I am providing the links to the products I mention in this blog post. If you purchase something through one of my links I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting me in this small way!

L'il Twister template ( click)

Blue air erasable marker ( click)

Lella Boutique fabric ( the ones I used don't seem to be available anymore, but this link brings you to some other great choices by the same designer) ( click).

Bigger Better Circles templates ( click).

Until next time~happy creating!

Monique