Kaleidoscope Quilt Process Report

As I was picking my fabrics for my Ricky Tims Kool Kaleidoscope quilt I wanted it to be fun and bright.  And the fabrics I chose turned out to be fun and bright.  But as I was deciding what widths I should cut each one, I had to keep going back to the book where there are lots of Kaleidoscopes created by others to see what fabrics I should put together and how wide each one should be.

I am only putting together the first pair of strata upon the recommendation of Em over at Quilt Crossing who is several steps ahead of me on her Kaleidoscope!!  Go check her's out - it is gorgeous!!  She suggested I make the first pair of Strata, cut them out and get them up on the design board before I go on to the nest round.  She said that way I would have a better feel for what fabrics I wanted to use in the suceeding round.

While my Dad and I have been watching the golf tournament this afternoon, I have been pinning each row of the strata together and then coming back here to my sewing room to sew them together and press.  I know that many quilters do not pin their fabric before sewing and I have tried it with and without pins, but I find I like it better with pins as my sewing seems to be more more accurate since I don't have to worry about keeping the seam edges together.  I just might do a poll on pinning versus not pinning before sewing a seam.

As each row went together and the Strata got wider and wider, I started thinking about a real kaleidoscope and the little crystals inside that make up the pattern.  I noticed that each of my pieces of fabric resembled the crystals in the real kaleidoscope and thought how fun!!

Here are a couple kaleidoscope pictures I found that give the feel of the crystals inside the tube.

Now, here are my first round Strata ready for the next step:

Don't you think the fabrics look like they are all different sizes and shapes like the little crystals inside a kaleidoscope?

When I showed my Dad the Strata, he said "Wow, thats bright, like Joseph's Coat", so we decided a perfect name for this quilt will be "Joseph's Coat."

The next step is to create the pattern for the Pattern templates!!  Stay tuned for how Joseph's Coat comes together!!!  And thanks Em for your support and your wonderful suggestions!!!