I’m thrilled that the kaleidoscope quilt that I designed using my blocks from Volume 4 & Volume 7 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks is included in the Quilts from Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks fall issue hitting stores and newsstands today. You can find the magazine at your favorite quilt shop or purchase it directly from Quiltmaker. Please keep reading to the end of this post since there is a drawing for a quilt kit!
The Midnight Blues quilt is shown on the cover (bottom) of the magazine and on pages 14-17. I pieced the quilt and my friend Katie Rubatt of Sweet Pea Quilting did the beautiful custom quilting. Timeless Treasures provided the fabrics from the Tree of Life collection designed by Chong-a Hwang and Tonga Java blender batiks.
The magazine includes instructions for making the quilt without the easy 4-patch kaleidoscope block centers and mentions that my book Kaleidoscope Symphony describes the technique if you would like to make the block centers like mine. All the kaleidoscope patterns shown on my website also describe the easy process so if you have one of my patterns you can refer to that or review the technique summary that I included in my blog post about Volume 7 Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks in April and also shown below.
Here is a closeup image of how stunning the block centers look made with easy 4-patch kaleidoscopes. This little extra effort really helps highlight the beautiful Tree of Life fabric. You can also see Katie’s wonderful quilting better in this photo.
The large print used for the wide quilt border (Tree of Life Eden-CM1203-black) was also used for all the 4-patch block centers. I used 3 yards for the lengthwise cut borders and a separate 3 yard piece for the block centers. You will need half of the yardage (22″ x 3 yards) to prepare the block centers and the remaining 22″ x 3 yards can be used for part of the quilt backing or share with a friend!
Here are the 4-patch kaleidoscope construction highlights:
1) Cut or rip a piece of large print fabric containing at least 4 fabric repeats (3 yards in this case since the fabric has a 24″ lengthwise repeat and 24″ times 4 equals 2-2/3 yards) lengthwise down the middle and save one of these pieces to create more kaleidoscopes later, piece into backing, or use for some of wide borders.
2) Cut out and layer four identical pieces of the fabric following the design repeat and pin around the perimeter with flathead pins carefully capturing the same motif through all fabric layers
3) Rotary cut strip sets 3-1/2” wide x 22″ and then sub-cut them into 3-1/2” square sets.
4) Take a square set, and rotate the four identical squares to create a 4-patch kaleidoscope. There are four different rotation options so have fun choosing your favorite look!
And now for the drawing! I thought it would be fun to give away a complete kit to make the queen size quilt as shown in the magazine with the exact Timeless Treasures fabrics shown. I’ve also listed all the fabric requirements and skus here Midnight Blues Timeless Treasures fabric reqs and on my website in the tab Magazine Quilts. The kit includes the magazine and almost 15 yards of fabric so the retail value is over $150.00!
For a chance to win the kit, please leave a comment anytime between now and midnight CST September 10th. Remember to also visit Quiltmaker’s blog and enter their drawing for a magazine.
Visit my website to see more ways to highlight large prints. Here is another design that showcases the Timeless Treasures Tree of Life collection used in the magazine quilt. It is called Starlight (QM132) and features the Tree of Life panel. Fabric designer Chong-a Hwang also created these fabrics in a new autumn colorway called Eden which can be see at Timeless Treasures.
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