Thursday, March 24, 2016

Kaleidoscope Finish !

Around Christmas Ricky Tims was advertising his DVD on Kaleidoscope Quilts. He provided the video free on The Quilt Show for a weekend. I got busy and made my Christmas quilt using his technique.

It's been finished a while now, but I am just now showing it as my bee tried the techniques this week and I got this one out again.

Ricky has a reputation for cutting freehand but this technique is very exacting. It takes thought, drafting a pattern yourself, being very careful with color choice, cutting and sewing. Take very good care not to over handle the pieces as they are all bias edged. Take more care on laying them out on the design wall as they are easy to mix up. I did not fuss with angles I just enjoyed what showed up after cutting the mirror images.
I did a lot of straight line quilting in the center, but it doesn't show in the pictures well. It looks terrific though, and required a strong arm to twist and turn the quilt under the needle. I used metallic gold thread by YLI.
For the border quilting, I sketched out ribbons with poinsettias and holly leaves/berries on this scrap of paper.
I doubt you can see it in the pictures but I made ribbons first all the way around with the walking foot. Then did flowers and holly free motion again with the gold metallic thread in the top, and thin cotton DMC in the bobbin. It shimmers in person. BTW the snowflake you see here is silver metallic paint, and I had only a small piece left in my stash. I am actually happy I allowed myself to use it! It's really pretty.

 Can you see the poinsettia in the corner? I did not plan much, just started sewing to see what showed up. Each corner is slightly different. The think is, certain fabrics just don't allow you to see the quilting stitch well.

At the bee, I hung this up with the table runner made from the numerous scraps left from fussy cutting the segments. There is significant waste using this pattern. It is not hanging on it's sleeve so it looks wonky here, but it's just pinned badly on our wall.
The whole kt and kaboodle was made from stash except for the red with dot's inner border. That was on sale and I only wish I had been able to buy more. I finished the bolt at 1.5 yards. One can always find a use for red fabric with silly white dots, no??
Happy Christmas in March!
linking to among others...sewcanshe

23 comments:

Linda Schiffer said...

I have thought about making one of thise Tims kaleidoscope pieces but never tried it. Might have to revisit the technique later this year. 🙂

Judy @ Sew Some Sunshine said...

Looks great, love your quilting!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

LeeAnna, that is beautiful! Looks like it was fun to experiment with, and will be a very special Christmas quilt for you from now on!

quiltedfabricart said...

Oooh! Yes! This came out great! I admire those who can piece with precision and this looks like that type of quilt. And the pointsetta FMQ is divine

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

I really like that quilt and the quilting sparkle! It looks like it is really complicated.

Claire said...

I like the way your arrangement got a shadow and a glow effect. Great use of the left overs--way too many to waste. I made the kaleidoscope quilt after a Ricky Timms workshop. Always meant to make another . . . claire aka knitnkwilt

Joanne said...

Wow! What a quilt!
Sure looks challenging with all those bias cuts and matching seems!
I'm sure that red fabric will find it's way into many more of your creative designs!

Joanne said...

Wow! What a quilt!
Sure looks challenging with all those bias cuts and matching seems!
I'm sure that red fabric will find it's way into many more of your creative designs!

easyweimaraner said...

it's great! I love that I can discover more and more detail with every look... and I'm a fan of this green :o)

gayle said...

Whew! I love the way the colors dance! It must have been a real bear to keep track of what-goes-where though...
Love that table runner, too!

Renee said...

This is gorgeous! I love the quilting you added, what a great detail!

Nancy A. Bekofske said...

Impressive!

Ann said...

I've never seen this pattern before. Congratulations on a wonderful Christmas quilt. What fun it must be to pull out every year - so happy.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Great finish. Kudos on the quilting. Thanks for linking up with TGIFF @ Anja Quilts.

Preeti said...

The runner is pretty but the quilt is simply gorgeous. Your hard work and attention to detail paid off handsomely.
Hugs,
Preeti.
http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com

Yvonne said...

What a beautiful Christmas quilt. It looks like a mandala.

JOY @ http://joysjotsshots.blogspot.com/ said...

Amazing!

Tails Around the Ranch said...

Gorgeous, just gorgeous! Hat's off to you for your amazing craftsmanship. I am constantly in awe of your work. ღ

Jasmine said...

This is gorgeous! I love the sparkle from the metallic thread.

Zenia Rene said...

Fabulous finish LeeAnna!

Zenia Rene said...

Fabulous finish LeeAnna!

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

Terrific all the way around! Your quilting is fab especially with metallic thread a notorious finicky thread. The poinsettia must look wonderful in person.

Muv said...

Hello LeeAnna,

What a laugh, a Christmas quilt to show at Easter! The quilting designs are lovely, especially the way you varied the thread and made the corners slightly different from each other.

Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks!

Love, Muv