Another mini twister

I finished another twister in miniature size this week. The mini twisters are made with the Primitive Gatherings ruler (which produces 1" blocks). This one was made from the scraps of a tablerunner I made last year. The smaller the block size is, the more you need a high contrast in the fabrics, and while I love the tablerunner, in miniature it looks a little too "blendy" to me.


This is my 4th twister quilt and here is a photo of the 3 minis on top of the tablerunner. Even though I've made 4 quilts using this technique, I can't wait to make another one! What is it about this method of producing quilt blocks that I enjoy so much? Does anyone have any insight to share with me about that?!? LOL

I also taught a twister class at the local senior's centre and look at the wonderful variations they made!

As much fun as piecing these twister blocks is, the quilting is also fun! I machine quilted this one with tiny little swirls and loved every minute of quilting it. I took a photo with a quarter so you could see the scale of the blocks.



I quilted some tiny swirls in the 1" border which are just so cute!
Have you made a twister quilt yet? Click here for a YouTube video showing how the ruler works. And if you hop over to Connie's blog, she has a great tutorial for another version of the twister that I'd like to try. Actually, it's probably best not to get started with the twister quilts, or you might get addicted like me!  
P.S. - If you haven't yet signed up for the Shop Hop giveaway, click here. If you haven't signed up for the 100 Blocks magazine draw, click here. 

Design Wall Monday #16

What a busy week it was! I haven't had much time for sewing but have been working on another twister quilt, so that's what is on my design wall today. I just love sewing these things!
This is my fourth twister quilt (here's the first, second and third versions). This version is made with the scraps from my first twister (plus border fabric). 

There are two challenging things about making the twister design at this size: 1) matching the seams, since there is absolutely no room for error/fudging and 2) how small the template is for accurate cutting of the blocks without cutting your fingers!
I enjoy this piecing method so much that I bought the larger size ruler and am planning a bed size scrappy twister quilt.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times. 

Guild Challenge - Post #3: Mini Quilt

The second challenge quilt I made was for the mini category. In this category each quilt has to measure less than 36" around the perimeter, which means less than 9" per side. 
I decided to use my favorite "Itty Bitty Primitive Pinwheel"  ruler again. I LOVE this tool and it is such a fun project to sew, I just couldn't resist making another one. I made my first twister in a tablerunner size (click here to see it) and it was so fun I decided to try it in mini size last October (click here to see it). I think I am addicted to these things! Funny that it hasn't occurred to me to make a large/bed size quilt though, eh?


Here is the start of my quilt with one of my favorite Kaffe Fassett paperweight fabrics for the border. It's bizarre that I feel so sad when I run out of one of my favorite fabrics :) LOL!




And here is my finished "Spring Pinwheels" quilt. I just did "stitch in the ditch" quilting because the piece is so small and has a lot of bulk from the seams. It measures 6.5" square and has 124 pieces. I was wishing I had put some yellow fabric in, and decided to sew a tiny golden bead in the center of each pinwheel. It's amazing how much more I liked it after adding the beads :) 

I can't wait to see all the challenge quilts hanging at the quilt show on May 4th and 5th. It is always amazing to see the creativity of quilters who make completely different quilts starting from the same inspiration of 2 fat quarters of fabric.These are the two challenge fabrics...can you see them in the finished quilt?

Tiny Twister

Last month I finished a tablerunner using the Lil Twister ruler - click here to see that project. It was really fun to make, but imagine my surprise when 2 of my quilting friends found an even smaller twister ruler, called the "Itty Bitty Primitive Pinwheel"!

I got out some scraps and went right to work/play. It was fun fun fun!

I had some trouble when I tried to machine quilt this little treasure with invisible thread - look at the size of the skipped stitches! It reminded me how much I hate invisible thread! Once I switched over to Aurifil thread...smooth sailing quilting!


Then I got out the bead box and sewed a tiny bead in the centre of each pinwheel.




To compare the size of the blocks, I put my thimble on the quilt...it sure is tiny!

Just how tiny is it?!? About the size of a Tim Horton's coffee!
Thanks to Deanna and Barb for sharing their tiny rulers!

Lil Twister Tablerunner Finish

I started to make a Lil' Twister quilt in May when I bought the ruler on a Shop Hop (click here for that post). I finished the top quickly (and loved the technique) and pin basted it... then it waited for a long time while I thought of quilting ideas.

I decided to use a camel coloured thread and quilt some hooked feathers (from Sally Terry's book) in the pinwheel blocks.

Once I had the design in my mind, it was so quick and easy! The colour is off in this photo that I took by the window, but it clearly shows the quilting.
I finally have the finished runner on my table!