Thursday, July 28, 2011

Kaleidoscope Quilt Finish!

Last night I finished my Kaleidoscope quilt and here it is:


Didn't it turn out nicely? I'm really pleased with this one, love the bright colours and LOVE the pattern. I did this quilt as part of Elizabeth's fab quiltalong. It's the first full size quilt I've done as a quiltalong and despite being a week late starting, I am impressed with myself that I managed to finish up on schedule.

The pattern was really great and I so enjoyed making it - all the more so for looking at what other people were doing with theirs. It's so amazing to me how the same pattern can look so different depending on fabric choices and design decisions. If you want to see more, just pop over and have a look at the Flickr group to see what I mean! I also learned lots making this quilt, not having done a lot of work with triangles before. Most important note to self - don't use paper templates again for cutting, after ripping back about 4 blocks a number of times to get my points matching. Even a millimetre or two here and there in your cutting makes such a difference on accuracy where you have so many points meeting.


Thanks to everyone who offered their advice on borders and binding. In the end, I decided to leave the quilt top as it was with no border, to maintain the illusion of those blocks whirling off the quilt. After posting the pics of the quilt top, I couldn't get the word whirligig out of my head. That, and the fact that its for a lovely baby boy influenced how I quilted it. I have a little 5 year old boy myself and completely love how he runs everywhere, with no pattern or meaning, round in circles, retracing his steps, covering about a million miles more than he really needs too. So I decided to free motion quilt it in a meandering, looping pattern, crossing over itself, looping around and around, going back and forth in no particular pattern, to mirror the whirling blocks and a little boy's motion, and I do think I captured that.


I think it works well and I hope my friend N likes it. I will definitely quilt in this looping style again, I love the effect.


I dithered about what binding to go with and dug around through my stash looking for something for quite a while, being too lazy to piece together all the strips necessary for a scrappy binding. I found this lovely blue fabric I had forgotten about and thought, with its red, white and green bubbles, it would work perfectly as the binding and I'm pretty happy with it.



I had this backing fabric in my stash and thought it was perfect for this quilt. Its actually from a small bolt of fabric I bought in IKEA and its a great gender neutral print which blends with whatever colour you put with it.


So, another quilt finished and this one is off to be washed and dried for that lovely crinkly texture before I post it off to N for baby O's room.


Quilt Stats:

Name:
Whirligig Kaleidoscope
Made For: Baby O
Fabric: A mix from my stash including Riley Blake's Hooty Hoot, and All Star, Michael Miller Ta Dot, Ann Kelle's Urban Zoologie and Ready Set Go, Amy Schimler's On A Whim II, Saffron Craig's Beetle Bugs and lots more
Batting: Warm & White
Size: 36" x 48" approx
Quilting: Loopy free motion quilting
Pattern: Elizabeth's Kaleidoscope pattern



I'm linking this up to Sew & Tell over at Amylouwho, Summer Fair over at Gen X Quilters and
{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations

34 comments:

Katie B said...

Great job, Sarah! This looks awesome, and I love your description of the whirlygig 5-year-old. Sounds about right to me!

Canadian Abroad said...

Beautiful! Fantastic fabric choices. And I love the backing fabric. I must check out the fabric next time I make it to an Ikea.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

It turned out so beautiful, really jolly - my batik triangles are still lonely and neglected - think I might just piece them and not bother using up any nicer fabric; then I get a tick!!

Elizabeth Dackson said...

Super cool finish!! I love how your quilt turned out, looks super fab, and the Ikea backing is perfect :)

Melissa said...

it turned out beautifully! congrats on the finish :)

Lynne said...

Love the binding and the backing - great choices! Love your FMQ too; it works well, I think. And the little owl is so cute!

Pinkadot Quilts said...

It is very pretty! One I have to put on my list!!!

SewHappyGeek said...

You've done a lovely job! And the binding is just right. I love how you've interpreted the blocks almost as stars. You're awesome!

Lynette said...

The back is so fun, too. I am just loving it, seeing all the kaleidoscope quilts emerging finished!

Judee said...

That is fabulous and I love the Ikea print too. I do that kind of quilting and it is so versatile.

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

SO cute! I love all those kid-friendly fabrics!

WandaFish said...

I absolutely love this quilt - such a lot of fun!

Katy Cameron said...

Very cool, and love the quilting

Melinda said...

Adorable! Great finish!

Wendy said...

It turned out so lovely. The colours work really well and the backing and binding are so cute!

patchworkdelights said...

Gorgeous Sarah, turned out stunning, well done!!

Cille said...

Beautiful quilt Sarah.

Inspiredbyfelix said...

Love it! and the little whirlygig is bound to love it too!

Impressed with your point matching :)

Jessie said...

I love this-- so pretty! I've been seeing the kaleidoscope quilts everywhere, and can't wait to make one myself. Thanks for the inspiration.

The Sunflower Patch said...

Nice finish! Love how you decided to quilt it too :) I bet N loves it to pieces ;)

Dayna said...

Beautiful!

pinksuedeshoe said...

Oh I love those colors, they look great together, and I love the story behind the quilting. Awesome.

Alisa said...

Very nice!

Jessica Kelly said...

Oh it is just fabulous! I love the way it turned out, and that loopy quilting is just perfect for it. Great finish!

sewhappiness said...

Sarah I think it's gorgeous!!! I love this pattern so much after all!!! It's just beautiful:)
xoxo

Vicky said...

What a great use of the fabrics for a baby boy. I love the quilting and would love to try that one day. Lucky friend to be receiving such a beautiful quilt.

Debbie said...

Beautiful! Congrats on your finish!!

Teje said...

Hi! Your Kaleidoscope quilt is very beautiful! I love all the fabrics and colours and also the back fabrics is so sweet!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Fantastic looking Kaleidoscope! It is a good feeling to get it done isn't it? Betsy's QAL was really fun.

LisaAnn said...

This turned out great! I'm newly inspired to finish my own Kaleidoscope quilt now! Thanks for sharing!

Kristen said...

This Kaleidoscope came out fabulous! I am still working on mine. I really do love the coordinating 'stars'! :)

Jennifer said...

I LOVE it! You did a fabulous job on every part of it!

Jennifer :)

AnneMarie said...

Great quilt! Super cute prints - love Ikea's stuff too. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Summer Fair! AnneMarie

Megan said...

This is quilt turned out wonderful! I love your quilting. Another great finish. :) Thanks for linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and have a great weekend!