Hey Everyone, welcome back to Cool Tool Thursday.
Today I am starting the ruler challenge where I use each and every ruler from my drawer featuring one a week here on Cool Tool Thursday. I decided on this little challenge because we all buy these rulers when we see them in a shop or being demonstrated at a show and then get them home, throw them in the drawer and never get around to using them.
I’ve got them – why not use them, try them out and see what I can create with them.
Today’s cool ruler is another template from Creative Grids called the Whirligig Template and I am really looking forward to playing and creating with it. Before Christmas I played with the Hatchet Template which I have also used in a few projects and blog posts lately – I guess I like that one.
Whirligig Template
I bought this one at my local quilt store, Thimbles & Things, back before Christmas along with a couple of others. I thought they were kind of neat and wanted to see what I could create with them. You’ve already seen one of them – the Hatchet Template and the other one I will reveal next week.
A great feature of the Whirligig template is that it has been created to work with 5″ pre-cut squares also known as charm packs. I have a few of these charm packs in my stash that need to be used up and made into something wonderful. I’m sure I’m not the only one with a few in my stash. You can also use yardage if you don’t have the pre-cuts and it would be great to use up those larger scraps hanging around in the studio.
And it comes with a free pattern. Bonus!
The free pattern
This template is so easy to use. Just place it on the 5″ square with the aligned at the edges and cut along the angled side. True to form, as with any Creative Grids ruler it has a non-slip gripper on the back of the template to help keep it place on the fabric.
Template on charm square ready for cutting
I love that built-in gripper feature and here’s why.
When I first started quilting, a few years ago now, I brought home all my new equipment and fabric to make my first project. There was pre-cutting for the class, of course, and I had never used a rotary cutter before in my life. I thought how hard can it be? Well, after many slips of the ruler and a wandering rotary cutter Michael took over the cutting of the fabric. He just couldn’t stand to see me waste anymore fabric. That Christmas he bought me Invisigrip for all of my rulers and after that I did all of my own cutting.
Now many rulers already come with a non-slip grip which is fantastic.
I’ll be back next week to create a small piece with this fabulous little template called the Whirligig. Starting with how to cut the pieces and ending up with some free motion quilting.
The fabric above is part of the charm pack I am using to create this piece – isn’t it fun? I can’t wait to show you the rest of the charm pack.
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Happy Quilting!
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