I have never made a whirlygig block before, but they're fun! I didn't want to mess with paper piecing or templates, so I drew out my plans and figured out how to machine piece it from there. The numbers turned out pretty nicely, I started with a 2"x2.5" rectangle and drew a line 1/4" from each side of the center. The littlest squares in there are 2" unfinished, and the entire block is 12.5" unfinished.
I think I like whirlygigs because the remind me of M.C. Escher.