Sunday, January 8, 2012

Kaleidoscope Quilt Finished

It has taken quite a while, but this quilt is no longer a UFO:
"Stack-n-whack" kaleidoscope quilt, approx 2m by 155cm.

The blocks were pieced in about 2001, after I watched an episode of "Simply Quilts" featuring the inventor of the "stack-n-whack" technique, Bethany Reynolds. I loved the idea, and went straight to my fabrics to see if I had anything I could use to try it. I only had enough of one fabric to get the six design repeats I needed. I chose the dusky pink for the triangles because the main fabric has touches of that pink through it. The blocks then sat around for a number of years. I didn't have enough of the same fabric to turn the top into a rectangular shape, and didn't know what to do.

In about 2006 or 2007 I found another Japanese fabric with a black background and the same pink, which I used to fill in a few gaps and create the rectangle shape. A friend gave me the fabric I've used in the border, which I do think is an ugly fabric, but it seems to work. (The same friend also had some of the pink fabric which she gave me to use for the binding.) But I didn't have anywhere to spread out the quilt to baste it.

In 2008, I was told about Sharon Schamber's basting method using two planks of wood. (You can watch her videos on YouTube; here's Part 1.) With this method, you don't spread the whole quilt out, so I was able to baste the quilt on my kitchen table. I did that in about the middle of 2008, and started to do some of the quilting, but it was giving me problems, so I put it aside yet again. 

In October last year, I got back to it, and now, finally, it is done!

6 comments:

Dee said...

Sorry, you are wrong Vireya. It is still a UFO...an Unusual, Fantastic Object! That is amazing...you are so clever.

jacaranda said...

I love it, Vireya, especially the combination of the pink and browns. Well done. Another UFO to cross off the list.

Nikki said...

That's just AMAZING, Vireya. Remind me not to show you any more of my "quilts".

kaiteM said...

Very clever and a real eye dazzler. So good to have it done at last, not still loitering.

Vireya said...

Thank you for the kind comments, everyone.

Kate said...

Love it Vireya