Category: Quilting

Kaleidoscope Quilt Blocks

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Yesterday, I teased you with this image, telling you that it was used in my recent seminar at the University of Kentucky. Probably some folks have already figured this out – either by looking at my Events Calendar, or because you recognized the elements of a Kaleidoscope block from your own work.

For those who don’t know what a Kaleidoscope block is – here’s a very simple explanation: It is a block that works just like the toys we’ve probably all played with at one point or another. One view of a piece of fabric is ‘mirrored’ 8 times to create an octagon of that pattern. And the repeated image gives you a completely different view of the fabric than you had when you looked at the full piece of fabric uncut.

Now, if that sounds frightening to you – don’t worry. As always I have some hints and tips that will make creating such a block MUCH easier for you. And those of you who have made such blocks in the past may want to consider trying these tricks, they will probably save you some serious frustration! And we all want quilting to be more about fun than frustration.

My first suggestion – use a quilt template that is designed for making Kaleidoscope blocks. Yes, there are many triangle templates on the market, and you can probably get away with using one of those – but there is a certain simplicity to the work when the tool you are using is designed for the job you want to do.

I use the Marti Michelle Quilt Sense ruler – called the Triangle Kaleidoscope ruler.

As you can see, it has markings on it for various size blocks and the 90º angle is perfectly designed for the corners of a traditional kaleidoscope.

It’s a bit hard to see in this image, but the lines tell you what size the BLOCK will be, not how tall each triangle will be, so you don’t have to stop and use your calculator (mental or physical) to determine what size triangle you need to cut to create the finished block size you want. This makes preparation so much easier. The blue lines on the bottom of the triangle (as it is facing in this picture) are designed for measuring the width of the strips you will be cutting before you start your triangle cuts that will be sewn on the corners of your block (burgandy fabric).

All in all – a great tool, and a wonderful time saver. As I said earlier, the right tool can make a big difference in your project.

Now, on to the basics of the cuts.

Step one, carefully cut eight strips of your fabric so you can line the design up on each piece of fabric so it lays directly over the one below it. (This way, when you cut your triangles, you will have eight triangles that have the exact same fabric repeat showing.) Lining the repeats up is probably the most time-consuming part of cutting the fabric, but the end results make it well worth the effort.

Step two, now that your fabric is aligned, pin the fabrics together using a flat quilting pin (such as the flat flower pins from Dritz that I mentioned in an earlier post). This will allow your ruler to lay right on top of the pin without rocking because of the pin head (thus making your cuts straight).

Step three, line the template ruler up so you get the proper repeat showing through the ruler, and trim away the excess. After this is done, with the template still in place, cut your triangles. You will now have eight triangles of the same image – just as in the teaser picture I showed you (see top of this post).

Step four, cut your corner blocks – there will be four of these for each kaleidoscope. After you have cut these, you can sew them to your triangles. On the end of for of the repeat triangles, add your corners.

Step five, begin to sew your block together, start by making one half of the block, sewing each triangle into place separately.

Once you have half of the block sewn together, sew another half block together, and then sew the two halves together to create a full block.

And here you see the completed block (not nearly so much yellow in the picture this time), and the paisley block that will be it’s companion in the quilt. I’m very pleased with the way these turned out!

See? It’s really not that difficult when you have a few hints to guide you. If any of you are thinking about purchasing the Kaleidoscope ruler by Marti Michell, I recommend that you take a look at this book as well, it was made as a companion to the ruler – and has some wonderful patterns and eye-candy of the quilt variety!

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Colorized Photo Quilt

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Today, I have one last photo quilt for you – a rather unusual idea, but one that worked out very well as you will see from the photos in just a moment.

The quilt designer, Carol, wanted to make a quilt for her husband that could be hung on the wall of their cabin/retreat. She wanted it to be in colors that would coordinate well with the design of the room, and didn’t want the photos to detract from the quilt’s colors.

So, she took several black and white pictures of landscapes and images around the cabin, and took them to a printer to have the photos professionally recolored. If you have access to a good photo editor and are familiar with it’s operation, you can do the same thing at home using your computer (more on this later).

The photos were recolored to coordinate with her fabrics, a subtle green for one set of images, and an orange that is almost a pumpkin color for the other set. She then bordered each picture with two different frames (in their coordinating colors), as you can see below.

Here is an orange/pumpkin block – picture is of a barn.

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And a sage green block – the cabin itself.

As you can see, the colorization of the photos adds a nice subtlety to the images. Since this quilt was made not with several small photos, but with nine large blocks – it makes the pictures the focus without making them stand out too harshly.

And here is the finished quilt!

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Okay, I promised more about the idea of colorizing blocks. This is for those of you who are willing to experiment a little bit. If you want to colorize photos like this, you will probably need an editing program other than the one that came with your digital camera.

For this blog, the images are all cropped, brightened, and so-forth by my secretary/assistant using a program called Gimp (she tells me it is very versatile, and best of all it is a free program).

Here are the steps she took to colorize the image of a stuffed bear she had on hand when I asked about pictures.
Original Image
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Changed to Black and White photo, using the “Colorify” command (no color was chosen so it defaulted to black & white)
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A purple hue applied to the black & white image, using the “Colorize” command (the Gimp program uses sliders in this section, simply adjust until you like the color – if colorizing multiple images, make a note of the color values to repeat the exact color).
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In this image, the “Colorize” command was used, adjusting both the hue and lightness sliders – to show more of the background the bear is sitting against.
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If “Colorize” doesn’t provide the result you like, you can also try the “Hue Saturation” command – which is how this image came about.
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Or perhaps red is more the color you are looking for? The choices are truly endless!

If you want to manipulate photos this way, then I suggest trying out the Gimp editor before investing in a more expensive program. The free download can be found here: GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program.

Or, if you prefer to leave such things to the professionals, just about any location where you can make copies or get photo prints can assist you with this.
Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

FREE Quilt Pattern – A Framed Life

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“A Framed Life” Photo Quilt

Finished Quilt Size – Approx. 93” X 115” (Queen)

This is a great gift for a graduate – the quilt is designed to hold 48 pictures, imagine it with pictures of your grad from birth to cap and gown! For the story of how this quilt came to be, and pictures from the quilt made by my daughter using this pattern, see the post A Framed Life.

Materials
24 sheets June Tailor Colorfast Computer Printer Fabric™
1 2/3 yards brown – 1st picture border
3 yards lt. blue – 2nd picture border
3 yards dk. blue – 2nd picture border
1/2 yard 1st border fabric
1 1/3 yard 2nd border fabric
2 1/3 yard 3rd border fabric
3/4 yard Quilt Binding
Batting
Backing Fabric

Suggested Tools
Rotary Cutter
Cutting Mat
12 1/2″ square ruler

  1. Choose 48 images for the quilt – you can repeat pictures if you want, but it’s more fun if you have 48 different images!
  2. Size pictures on computer to 5” square, you should be able to get two pictures on each sheet of printer fabric. Make sure to leave 1/2” between the two pictures so you will be able to have a 1/4” seam allowance around each picture.

  3. Process the pictures onto the fabric according to instructions on the packaging. Cut fabric pictures to 5 1/2” square, leaving the 1/4” (seam allowance) around each side of each picture.
  4. Create the first frame around your each of your pictures following these steps:
    • Cut fabric WOF (width of fabric) 4 strips 5 1/2”
    • Sub-cut these 4 strips into 96 strips 5 1/2” X 1 3/4”
    • Sew to both sides of 48 pictures
    • Each of your picture blocks will now be 8” wide, by 5 1/2” long
    • Cut WOF (width of fabric) 4 strips 8”
    • Sub-cut these 4 strips into 96 strips 8” X 1 3/4”
    • Sew to both top and bottom of pictures
    • You will now have a block that is 8” square
  5. Create the second frame around each of your pictures following these steps
    • Cut WOF from each of the two different blue frame fabrics
      • 4 Strips 8” WOF – Sub cut to 48 8” x 3 3/4”
      • 4 Strips 15” WOF – Sub cut to 48 15” x 3 3/4”
    • NOTE: when you are finished, you will have 96 sub-cuts that are 8” long, and 96 that are 15” long (48 from each of the two blue fabrics)
    • Sew 8” strips to sides of bordered picture
    • NOTE: Sew side borders on first 1/2 of blocks with one fabric and the other 1/2 with second fabric.
    • Sew 15” strips to top and bottom of the picture blocks. If you used fabric A for the side of the frame on a picture, use fabric B for the top of the frame.
    • You will now have 48 blocks that have light blue fabric at the top and bottom, and 48 blocks that have dark blue fabric at the top and bottom.

  6. Using the 12½” square ruler, you will be cutting an 11½” square on the angle as shown with the bold line n the image below. (I find it helpful to put blue masking tape on the ruler for a visual of the 11½”.)

  7. Make sure your block is square on your cutting mat before you lay the square ruler over it. The square should not cut into the brown borders at all, and the corners of the ruler will touch each of the edges of your blue fabrics.

  8. OPTIONAL – When cutting your blocks at an angle, you may want to alternate the rotation of the photos on the blocks (this provides another bit of visual interest and breaks up the pattern slightly). The easy way to do this is to cut two blocks at a time.
    • Lay a block with the dark blue fabric with the photo (right side) face up.
    • Lay a block with the light blue fabric on top of it, with the photo (right side) face down.
    • Cut through both squares at the same time. Your photos will be at different (mirror) angles to one another.
    • If you choose this method, make certain you are consistent. You want all of the blocks with dark blue tops angled one direction, and all of the light blue tops angled the other direction.
  9. Sew the quilt together 6 blocks across by 8 blocks down. (The image of the quilt that follows shows a quilt that was made using the optional step 8.)

  10. Add your quilt borders –
    • 1st border cut 8 strips 2” wide
    • 2nd border cut 9 strips 5” wide
    • 3rd border cut 10 strips 8” wide
    • Binding 10 strips 2 1/2” wide

If you would like a PDF copy of this pattern, click here. But be sure to read the fine print below! Thank you!

Pattern by: Sheila Reinke, 2008
All rights reserved. A copy of this pattern may be made for personal, home use. You may not copy for commercial use without prior written permission. If you are a teacher who wishing to use this pattern for quilting instruction, please contact Sheila Reinke at https://sheilareinke.wordpress.com/

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila