Thursday, December 15, 2011

Christmas twister quilt and a bonus quilt!!


Remember when l made Harpers twister quilt here?
Many of you asked how? And l promised soon!!
Yesterday l had a free day, so l decided now was the time.
Out came some Xmas fabrics and l whipped this one up.
Here is a tutorial showing how!!



First, l chose 16 different fabrics, and cut 7 1/2"squares from each.
You don't need to use this many fabrics, but l did.
You can see l alternated red and green.

Sew your 16 squares together in a pattern that pleases you.
Press well.

l then added a red border. l cut these border strips at 4 1/2".
Measure your top, cut strips to suit, then adding a strip to each side.


Now comes the magic. There is a ruler available on the market called twister,
but l converted an existing 4 1/2"ruler.
l drew black lines from the 3/4"line on either side to the opposite 3/4"mark.
Once l had drawn these lines, l covered them with sticky tape,
 so they would not rub off. This does not affect the ruler.
Place the ruler, with the black lines lining up with your sewing seam lines,
 and cut on all four sides. This is best done on the corner of a table,
with the quilt spread out on the table in front of you.
It can be tricky to get to each side, but persevere.
l found l could cut 3 sides, then needed to swap where l was standing.

Continue cutting across the top row. You can see here how they will look.
You can see the pinwheel blades starting to form.

Then give the cut blocks a slight twist to their new position.

Continue cutting rows.
Remember, these squares are now on the bias, and need to be handled carefully.
Once l have cut a block, l add it to its new position. If you left this till the end,
it would be like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

You can see here, how the 4 lines line up with the stitching lines.
As you cut your blocks, you will find there is some big
 chunks of fabric left over, but wait and see!!

Here are all the blocks cut and in their new positions.

Sew them together in rows, then sew the rows together.
l pressed each row in alternate directions to help with the seams nesting.

Now your centre is complete. Press well.


l decided to add a border.
l cut my strips at 4 1/2", adding to all 4 sides.
Now your top is complete. Quilt as desired.

Remember those left over scraps? l trimmed them up to 4 1/2"squares.
Again,  remember they are on the bias, so be careful.
l then sewed them all back together, which is where we all started,
 added a red border, then a larger 2nd border.

So from those 7 1/2"squares that you start with, you have 2 small Xmas quilts.
l hope this all makes sense, and you enjoy making a twister quilt and a bonus quilt.

Thanks for visiting.
Linda.




18 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing how to make a twister quilt. I love that you converted a square ruler to make it a twister ruler. Will have to give this a go sometime.

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  2. That looks like fun to me Linda.You made good use out of a free day too, it's a great technique and thanks a bunch for sharing it with us.

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  3. Thanks so much for the tutorial Linda, I will try to make one of these soon. It looks fun and hopefully not too challenging. Yours turned out too cute. Merry Christmas!

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  4. Thanks Linda - I'm going to make one right now!

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  5. I totally forgot about this fun! Love your Christmas fabric choice. Thanks for reminding me. I'll make another one soon ;)

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  6. You made it so easy Linda..Great tut.
    Now off to choose fabrics..
    Than you.
    Julia.

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  7. How adorable.... and thanks for the ruler tip...I have been wanting to make one for ages and now I can...would love to make a larger one too. Love your blog...
    Hugs Dawn x x x

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  8. I've seen this done with the special ruler but thank you so much for explaining it using a ruler that most of us have. I love that stripey border!

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  9. Linda, thanks for the tutorial, it's always easier when you see step by step instructions. Here's wishing you 7 your family a very Merry Christmas & best wishes for 2012

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  10. You're a genius!! It's perfect and why buy one more ruler?!

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  11. You're a very talented quilter! I love them all. I'm a new follower
    JoAnn
    sweetpepperrose.blogspot.com

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  12. That is a cool tutorial. I wondered how they were made. I recently quilted one for a customer of mine, and when I asked how it was made, I just did quite 'get it'....but I get it now!
    P.s I love your header photo, is that of your favourite shop? Or your home?

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  13. Thank you so much for the tutorial. the money saved on the ruler can be spend now on fabric :-)

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  14. It does look like magic. Looks great!
    Jane

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  15. Thanks for the clear tutorial. Hopefully I have time next week to give it a try.

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  16. I love The Twister template! Very cute quilts and a great tutorial.

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  17. Alway's wanted to make one of these. Your instruction's are very helpful and easy to follow.
    Just marked out my ruler now and will start choosing fabrics ready for after Xmas.
    Sue from Perth, Aust.

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  18. Tried your tutorial for the twister today. Used some 20 year old christmas prints that needed to come out of the stash. Following your directions made it a snap. Really a lot of fun. May make more to donate to a charity next Christmas. Thanks a lot!

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