a start---twisting without a twister ruler

This was this morning---hat number 9.  I am liking this "green tones" colored Red Heart yarn though the color is not near correct.  Think more emerald and mint green, emerald being the chosen color for 2013, says Pantone.

I can get one more in the box, maybe two so I'll keep knitting in the evenings.  I'll run out of yarn about the same time that I run out of "box"

 This was this afternoon.  I decided to take my three Christmas twister pieces apart.  First I really like some of the fabrics and colors and know that I will go with the stuff for Allison's tree skirt.  I don't necessarily like the background fabric I used on the placemat piece on the left though, nor some of the spots I stuck some of this.

I hesitate to show you this mess as it really doesn't look like much yet.  I am going for that scalloped shape that I showed yesterday pinned to the design wall. 

So I un-sewed and played with placement a little bit but not as much as I could have.  Some of it could be kept intact.  It is all pinned to the piece of interfacing to keep in in place until I can get it to the sewing machine.  I am going to sub out that zig zag green though for a less obnoxious print though before I call it quits for the night.  Just decided that, LOL.

Since I am using bits that were cut were sewn and then cut with the twister ruler, I found that I had to go to my EQ file and sort of plan to sew this in a more conventional manner if I wanted to cut some other fabrics for fill or cut more of the small blades of background.  I would have to make a template and cut with all the pieces right side up so the thing would not be spinning backwards!.  A plus is that the pieces are cut on straight of grain now while a twister ruler is not.

 If you look at the drawing of my twister wreath, you may be better able to isolate what a block looks like.  It is just the placement of colors that makes it a wreath instead of some other object.  Well, that and the number of blocks used.  This is symmetrical and square; other designs are rectangular, longer than wide.  I could have just put plain blocks in the corners and thought about it in practice.

Anita Solomon Grossman shows a way to draw this up on her blog called "no waste windmill" for her book Rotary Cutting Revolution.  However, hers are larger than what I need .  I also don't think I could confidently cut through 8 layers of fabric either but it is worth a look,  especially if you want to do twisters in other sizes. Somewhere in between the large twister and the Lil Twister might be nice.  There is a way AND with less waste.

ALSO you need to go look at my friend at alefthanded quilter's blog post and tutorial on this especially if you are a left hander.  She takes a look at Grossman-Solomon's method and makes it far more easy to understand than I am doing.  Here you go!   She cut hers with a ruler.  (I made a template just to be sure)
http://alefthandedquilter.blogspot.com/2011/10/lhq-lefty-twister-block.html

Anyway, here is one block.  I am doing to do just one block for the Farmer's Wife Inspired Sampler at some point so had a pastel looking version in my file.

One template for the whole block---I know it doesn't look like they are all the same size necessarily but they are.     To make a template I print it off in EQ, rubber cement that to a piece of EZ extra thick template plastic and then cut out the shape.  Then I put a bit of rubber cement on the back of it too and let dry to get it a bit tacky so it won't slip while I am cutting.   BUT I do NOT cut around the template plastic but rather butt my ruler up against it and rotate my mat.

I invested in a small rotating mat when they had them 40% off at Connecting Threads---great investment, I found, when I was working on those small sampler blocks.  Works good for this.  I could not find any of that heavy template plastic here locally but I ordered that from Create For Less as there is a price break for 5 which should last a good long time.   They used to carry it at Walmart  in 8 1/2 x 11 sheets like paper, but no more.  Hobby Lobby didn't have it either---believe me, I checked first.   Joann's and Hancock's mean a trip to Birmingham or Douglasville, GA.  No thanks.

The floor is a mess but I am not cleaning it up tonight mainly because the vacuum cleaner kills my back and it is already a bit sore.  Still, how can you be creative and not make a mess?  Draw in EQ maybe, knit, embroider--maybe anything but quilt, cut and sew.  I feel a little better after at least making a start on my project.  I've got a ways to go but that's okay too.  The next blades on both sides will be less packed with piecing as I fly by the seat of my pants a bit.  That is normally my friend Cher's preferred methodology but I'll see how it goes, LOL.