The Co-Quilter (otherwise known as Schnap, but now referred to in this posting as Co-Q, not to be confused with Co-Q10 which is something else entirely but apparently recommended by Dr. Andrew Weil) is requesting that the quilt pieces be moved
lower. The Kaleidoscope quilt pieces are currently about 3 feet higher than Co-Q would like.
Because the pieces cut for this quilt are largely on the bias, and highly persnickety about how they fit together, I believe that Co-Q should just be pointing and making recommendations rather than moving things around. Co-Q did not agree and expressed her annoyance with barking, growling, shin nudges, and a hairy eyeball.
Despite all this, kaleidoscope #1 was sewn together with only one seam needing to be ripped out. Not bad considering.
Lessons learned:
Here are things I learned sewing kaleidoscope #1 together and cutting kaleidoscope #2 that I’m not sure is in the book (which I think does a very nice job with instructions)
- Sew the strata with a close stitch – I used the 2.2 setting on my machine (whatever that means) You will be cutting the strips apart into funky shapes and you don’t want the seams to open up on the sides before you anchor them with the subsequent seams.
- Pressing is super important. Press in the directions Mr. Tims says in the books. Press open seams when he says as well even though that’s a pain.
- Do not go crazy pressing with steam and stretch seams.
- There is a big fat lump in the middle of the kaleidoscope (Mr. Tims calls it ‘the nose’ where 12 joins meet. If you press carefully, it’s not as crazy as you might think. But it’s still thick, there’s no avoiding that.
- See the little pointy bits in the middle below in kaleidoscope #2? I think they’re going to be problematic. When you cut ‘the noses’ of the kaleidoscope, it would be best to avoid having a seam closer than about 2″ from the point of the nose because of the bulky build up in that area. I fear that I may have a problem with kaleidoscope #2 that I cut from leftovers of kaleidoscope #1 what with the seam about 1/2″ away from nose, and I am considering recutting that pattern piece with some new strata pieces with more of a margin.
piecedgoods 
Thanks for the learnings. I at least got my fabrics together and started playing with placement. Hopefully I will be able to sew a few strata today. For the center join, did you twirl the seam (press all in the same direction either clockwise or counterclockwise)? This helps on my 6-point stars but not sure how it would affect everything else in this pattern.
I didn’t twirl the seams on this. I’ve done it on lone star type things but I’m not sure it would help here because it’s still got 12 ‘noses’ pointing to one place. Ricky Tims instructed to press all the non-strata seams open. I did that especially carefully at the nose and it seemed to work.
Even so, I’m not sure I’m going to send a quilting needle through the center.
Forgot to say, your kaleidoscope looks great. I love how all your prints play together.
Thank you! I’m newish to blogging and it’s so fun to wake up and check feedback and replies!
Thank you very much for those helpful tips. I am making on of these quilts also. I love your color choices.
Thank you!
I have always stayed away from the kaleidoscope. You make it look SEW easy. Your fabric choice is perfect, which I know takes time to decide.
Thanks for sharing.
Sharon
Thank you! Believe me it hasn’t been easy. I decided to challenge myself and make this quilt, do it monochromatically, fulfill the process pledge, and enter it into the Project Modern Challenge #2 for monochromatic quilts (due date March 31st, 2011) Kinda crazy right?
Actually having all these goals and structures have unexpectedly helped me and motivated me immensely.
Plus comments like yours continue to make my day! Thanks again!
How pretty! It is looking more flower-like with layers of petals than snowflake-like now! Interesting to me how different it looks when sewn together from when you just had it stuck to the wall. It sure is hard to predict what Kaleidoscopes are going to look like when they are finished from just the scraps, isn’t it? Only one seam needed to be ripped out? Not bad at all!
Thanks Sheila! I agree. I went into this thinking that these were going to look more like snowflakes. They look more like black and white dahlias now. Oh well. It’s still a cool looking piece. I’ll work on making the next one look like a snowflake.
Pingback: Kaleidoscope round two | quiltfever