Student Work from Prickly Piecers Kaleidoscope Class

I'm always so proud of the accomplishments of my students once they have completed a class project. This kaleidoscope quilt was created by Cathy Jo Means during the February 27th class. She brought it in finished to the monthly meeting on March 18th. She has posted her fabulous quilt on www.thequiltshow with Ricky Tims, who designed the original Kool Kaleidoscope. I'm sure Ricky would be proud of Cathy's effforts. I particularly like the curved border on her piece.

Kaleidoscopes Continued...

I'm so excited about the kaleidoscopes that the Prickly Piecers created yesterday at the Fire Station in Chandler that I have to play with another one. I want to see "what if"? "What if" I use a 12" square piece of freezer paper for the template instead of the 18" we used yesterday? Well, for one thing, it will make the finished piece smaller (the center will be more like 24" inches by 24" than 36"x36"). For yet another change, with the smaller pieces I decided to use one piece of fabric per template section rather than the strata (fabric created from strips of fabrics sewn together). For a color palette, I worked with pinks and blacks from my stash left over from the "Katz Pizzazz" that won a Best of Show at the Macon County Fair in Illinois this past summer. Here are a couple of photos of the quilt in progress.

Prickly Piecers Make Kaleidoscopes

Today we are having a class on Ricky Tims' Kool Kaleidoscope Quilts with 12 students at the Fire Station in Chandler, AZ. This class is right in my backyard! 5 minutes from home no less. Enjoy these photos...

We have used Ricky's Kool Kaleidoscope DVD along with a Power Point presentation that I have developed for today's class. an 18" square of freezer paper is used for the template and a strata has been created used varied strips of color and patterns for visual appeal. The quilt sare all wonderful and very different!

Applique on Kaleidoscope

I'm adding applique to my newest kaleidoscope quilt. I've started the blocks for a blue-on-blue kaleidoscope and will change this kaleidoscope quilt by making it larger size. I'm adding more borders and "ramping it up" a little.

I will be using a 1.8" width and 1.8"stitch length on my Bernina. I'm using a #20 (open toed-applique) foot with a Double Blanket Stitch #330) for the applique. Steam A Seam holds the circle onto the fabric so it doesn't slip around on me.

Arizona Quilters Guild

It's the annual leadership meeting for the Arizona Quilter's Guild, where we have been invited to display and promote our Traveling Teacher classes. This is a volunteer program where teachers travel across the state to teach members a variety of quilt-related classes. AQG subsidizes the offerings and they are available at a nominal cost to members. I've been in the program for 7 years now and have offered a variety of lectures and classes through the years. Topics have included Copyright 101, Judy Sisneros' Nine Patch Pizzazz, Barbara Randle's Museum Bag, and Organizing Your Quilt Studio. I also offered a class on Understanding the Quilt Show World. The newest class offering for me is Ricky Tims' Kool Kaleidoscope class.