More on Kaleidoscope Blocks

A few bloggers have asked me about choice of colors. From what I've seen, what might appear as rather 'blah' fabrics can turn into an amazingly beautiful block. What have you got to lose? These are some of my last-of-the-strips, (I even pieced some) so I kinda threw them together, with little thought, just to see if it was necessary to spend time agonizing over colors. I DID keep the light to dark plan, except for the bright coral accent in the 'wrong' place.

These blocks go together in about 30 minutes, if you have your strips cut - they are not time consuming.

Voila! Not bad at all! I don't think agonizing is necessary at all, within reason.
First I do twosies and press to the right, then foursies, and put the straight edge against ME on the ironing board, and press seams to the right. Then I sew the two sides together, being really careful at the center. I mash them together tightly, pin them, and take a few machine basting stitches, hoping for a good center. If it's OK, then I sew the whole long seam, from one side to the other. Remember there are bias edges, be careful.

Now, do you open the little center tip? I hope you can see this. I release the 3-4 vertical center stitches on each side, and open that seam, again, mash that center flat, and press from the back, all clockwise. Some people call this twirling -- it sure makes that center nice and flat, with no bump from the top.

I measured 9 1/2 inches with my ruler on the strip set, and I got 9 wedges from my strip set, using WOF (Width of Fabric) of each strip. Most of my wedges have 6 or 7 strips. So, if you make 9 blocks you will need 9 strip sets, with 9 odd pieces for one more block for ... something. I'm shooting for 12 blocks, and need to make 2 more. Then I'll sew on the corners.

I hope to see a few of YOUR kaleidoscopes -- a lot of you have commented. Glad I could add something to your possible projects.

Kaleidoscopes, Strings, Scraps

This may be the 4th Kaleidoscope pattern I've made. They are EASY - at least this version. Here are my strings, strips, YES SCRAPS cut in various widths from 1 inch to 2 1/2 inch. I used width of fabric, but also pieced some to get the length. My palette of blues, greens turquoises, purples, etc. with a chartreuse and a melon as zingers. I'm aiming for an IN YOUR FACE impact - definitely NOT soft and gentle, by making the blocks large, using strong colors and intentionally not-matching seams. I'm placing my colors from light to dark and when you turn the ruler, you get dark to light. This is from stash - no new fabric.

Wedges are cut at 9 1/2 inches and I'm using a 45 degree ruler by Marilyn Dohaney, but there are a number of 45 degree rulers available. (Be sure you understand 45 degrees = 8 wedges, vs. 60 degrees = 6 wedges.) (Ok, elementary, but guess what Nebraskan has made THAT mistake!)

Here is the strata, or (is it stratum)? Not terribly impressive yet but ...

Absolutely acceptable! Could use more ZING ...

Let's try another version with this strip set (ahah, you noticed I avoided the strata/stratum unknown!).

Not bad at all!

These blocks can be mixed with each other, they can be all scrappy, you can clean up a LOT of stash this way. By pressing all the seam allowances to either the dark (my choice) or all to the lights, and then offsetting each one opposite to it's neighbor, you will not have problems with seams. I will probably press the seams all in one direction. The corner units will probably be some version of Quarter Square Triangles.

The only thing you should be careful about is that the pieces on the top and the pieces on the bottom of the strip set should be wide, so you don't end up with a teensy bit in the seam allowance. My strata uhhh strip set was about 10 inches wide and I trimmed it to nine and one/half inches. This makes an 18 inch block. So I presume I will only need 12 blocks. I was able to cut 9 wedges from each strip set, so I'll need 11 strip sets, using the leftovers for the 12th block. You could use a defined palette for a more coordinated look, but leave it to me, I want MORE COLOR, MORE IMPACT!

I hope you might try this one!

Friends everywhere

This darling quilt belongs to my friend Jody - a quilter and ranch woman goddess! Honestly, this gal can do anything! She wanted to make a 'green' quilt, something from fabric already at hand, and this blue fabric was found in one of our Guild totes. We throw good but unwanted fabric into these totes, and eventually someone uses it. She also has a knack for clever insets in her borders. Can you see that slender stripe? Look at her ladybugs! CUTE, CUTE, CUTE! I asked her why she chose Ladybugs, and she said "Cause I wanted to!" She's been practicing her machine quilting and looking successful at this skill also!

I made this pineapple wall hanging years ago, but it's still looking fresh and hangs in my office. Some of you know I work in a church, and the church has many gorgeous stained glass windows. I'd like to think I caught the color flavor of my favorite stained glass window, if not the design.

Is this window not gorgeous? (No flash was needed for this photo.)

And lastly, this is part of my office, complete with a quilt-y signed picture by Diane Phalen, given to me by members of the congregation, when they learned of my love of quilting -- they are the best folks!

For a good time,

http://www.typogenerator.net/index.php
(Can't get this link to work but you know how to type it in)

Wish I could remember who recently mentioned this site THANK YOU!!! You type in your text, or word, tell it to "Generate" and the result after a moment or two, is the most interesting and "arty" poster! You could spend days playing with this! If your brain is sluggish some days, this will give it a punch!

Don't mess with Mother Nature

These photos were taken in Kearney, in the middle of the state, during last week's tornados. I don't know who took them, but thank you.

Awesome!

Machine wins !

With eagerness to get hand stitching on my leaves, after work I dashed to my in-town LQS for embroidery floss, then dashed home to start hand stitching my leaves on my Bargello vine.

I found my Embroidery Tote in a corner and washed the dust off the box. With an effort for organization, I wound these new threads on the appropriate little gadget, put the thread ID number on that little gadget (what is that thing-y called - plastic spindle?? ), lined everything up in appropriate sections in my organizing box, and started my stitching. Uhhh, not quite was I was thinking - oops, I know, I'm heading the wrong way - gotta start from this end. Drats, knots, cut the blasted thing and restart. Hey world, do I hafta know which end to knot on embroidery floss? "HEY, DH, sweetie, sugar pie, would you please bring me my needle threader???" Oops, that's not looking so great either - crud, I have 3 threads instead of 2. Again, ??? strength for this project is waning fast ... Crud, I know, stitches too big .. but .... oh crud, this looks like XXXX! It's just sitting there, on TOP of the fabric, with pokies evident here and there.
OK, I knew using the machine for doing a featherstitch would be a pain, since I already had the border on, but ... in about 30 minutes, I had a good portion DONE! My vote is for the machine work for this project. It gives the leaves the barb-y, prickly edge that I wanted, the darker thread (dark green) is the perfect 'look', and I'm very happy. Where the leaves go into the border and over a seam or two, I used telephone book pages for stabilizer, and that worked like a charm.
And, FYI, my machine has stitches that slant UP, and another mode for the same stitches that slant DOWN. I did not push for perfection and stuck with just one mode.

One other thing - I was worried about messy stitches when starting and stopping with that awkward featherstitch, so I did NOT do a locking stitch. Instead, I left a thread tail when starting and stopping, and then, using an easy-threading needle, quickly threaded the threads to the back where I tied them together. If you haven't seen one of these needles, they are kinda open at the end, and the thread sort of slips into the eye. Perfect for this use. I keep that needle in a special segment in my tomato pin cushion, because it's hard to recognize.

I feel like a 5-yr. old in kindergarten, still playing with my colors, paints and pencils. Life is good.