Twisted Valentine - tutorial

My Twisted Valentine table topper. 

It was fun, easy and quick!

For those who have never made one of these fun quilts...

Here's how I made it. 

I raided my stash and found:

25 charm squares

1/3 yard border fabric

and of course the

'Lil' Twister" ruler 

 I laid out my charm squares in a 5 x 5 format. 

They are all sewn together and ready for the border to be put on.

I cut three 3" border strips

Side borders went on first,  then the top and bottom borders next.

Of course, I press my seams toward the border. 

Now comes the fun part of using this cool little ruler.

I start in the top left corner.

Line up the ruler with the seam lines as shown.

Carefully cut around the ruler on all sides, just going past the rulers edge.

Don't over cut.

Line up the ruler with the next intersection and cut around that piece again just going past the edge of the ruler.

Continue to cut out your Twister blocks as shown.  

Here's the first four Twister squares, laid out and ready to be sewn together.

Continue cutting across your quilt top.  Lay out the Twister blocks as you go.

It made it easier for me to do it this way.

I always work left to right, placing the cut squares next to each other as I go. 

 The last row also cuts into your border.

Everything is cut out.

I got the top row sewn together.

(I got excited and couldn't wait to sew things together)

Can see the Twister now?

The second row is sewn together in 3 block sections.

The bottom row is ready to be sewn.

You can see how it is put together here.

Now the (almost) finished project.  I still need to get it quilted.

This topper finishes 18" square.

 You can add more borders at this point if you choose.  

Now what to do with all the scraps left over????  Hmmmm...I hate to toss them,

 I mean how un-quilty of me.  So I took all those pieces and cut them down to a bunch of 2 1/4" squares and put them to good use.

  And what better to go with a table topper then a set of

Mug rugs!

I used some of the border fabric scraps and appliqued the 3 little hearts using Steam-A-Seam fusible webbing.  Then I quilted the large hearts in the center. 

Now for some chocolate!

Have a wonderful and Happy Valentines Day!!!