Sew and Tell.

Just a quick post to show you the finished Kaleidoscope quilt. I stayed up until 4am last night working on it (was robbed of an hour due to the switch over to Daylight Savings Time) and then got up this morning at about 8am to finish it off. Needless to say I am now in a zombie like state.



The kaleidoscope block presents so many different style options but rather than having strong, definite circles I wanted a scrappy look so the circular effect is subtle and elusive. I am really pleased with how it looks - but it took a lot of unpicking to get there! First I had that light blue colour that read white to unpick, then I decided to make it bigger (not that that involved any unpicking, just the opposite really) and then I fussy cut a border print that just looked wishy-washy (sorry - there are no photos of that blandness). After unpicking that border I made an emergency trip to Hettie's to buy a navy blue fabric for the new border - I like the way that the dark fabric now frames the quilt.


I enjoyed making this quilt and in particular the challenge of the 45 degree triangle pieced border but I couldn't have done it without my side-kick Frasier. I have a 7" DVD player next to my sewing machine and when I sew I play Frasier to keep me company and now I measure a quilt's complexity by how many seasons I get through while sewing it. This quilt has a rating of 3 and a half Frasier's as it took me through seasons 3, 4, 5 and the first disk of 6.


Until next time,

Shontelle.

Hi ho hi ho it's off to unpick I go!

Hola!

I have been making a kaleidoscope quilt for a workshop I have been asked to take in October. I decided to make the quilt in my favourite fabrics (reproductions) and in my favourite colour (blue). We are screaming towards the deadline but I wasn't stressing, it was all going well and I thought that I'd have it bowled over by Sunday (fool that I am). I got home from Tuesday night sewing with all of the blocks ironed and ready to go. I placed the blocks on the floor and stood back to inspect the quilt. To my horror the lovely light blue that looked great in my stash read white when placed in the quilt and in my opinion broke up the circular effect of the kaleidoscope blocks.



I thought about it for a few minutes but in my heart I knew that if I was to be happy with the finished quilt there was really only one option. So I took a deep breath and reached for my Clover quick unpick and settled in for the long haul. I did some last night while watching 'Being Erica' on ABC iview (how good is that, by the way!) and the rest this morning sitting on my swing, listening to the rain.

Happy stiching all (or in my case - unpicking!)

Shontelle.

PS. I am hoping to post my fabric choices and some design options tomorrow for the apron challenge. It has taken me a while, but I think that I have finally come up with a design.