Many of you quilters are at QuiltCon, but I am just going to sew all weekend. I’m disappointed about missing out on all the fun, but it’s part of my resolution to get a better balance on my income versus expenses this year. That means only one sewing trip for me; fall market in Houston. For all of you quilters who didn’t make it to QuiltCon this year, what are you working on at home?
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m working on a quilt for the kids’ school auction. The theme of the auction is kaleidoscope, so I immediately thought of the Shoeman’s Puzzle quilt in Denyse Schmidt’s latest book. I am making this quilt with a traditional kaleidoscope design, but I created templates so that I could paper piece it. I’ve shared my templates below if you’d like to make this block. Just click on the images for the .pdf file. Be sure to print full size (de-select the “fit to page” option). Although your outer lines may get cut off, the block with seam allowance is 8 1/2″, the width of standard paper.
If you follow me on Instagram, you saw yesterday that I was trying to decide whether to paper piece or use templates, so I increased the size of the block from 6″ to 8″, which means I only have to make 64 instead of 100 blocks. I like the precision of paper-piecing and I actually enjoy the process. Cutting fabric is one of my least favorite tasks, so this skips that step. Each of the pieces for the quilt was hand-dyed by the kids and when it all comes together, it should look something like this. I limited the colors to varying shades of blue, yellow and green so that the subtle patterns in this design will still be seen.
Hoping to get the quilt top made this weekend, so wish me luck!
