Allow me to introduce Cosmic Kaleidoscopes, my second finish of 2013 and #6 in my series of kaleidoscope quilts. You may remember from a recent post, My Lucky Day, that I won a quilting session with Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting at last month’s Portland Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Nancy was able to finish it in time for this month’s guild meeting (Jan. 17). I wanted to show it there first before posting pictures.

Here is my quilt, enhanced by Nancy’s lovely work:

Because the kaleidoscope blocks are so busy, I wanted the quilting in the background to be very simple. Nancy and I decided on slightly wavy lines that would simply flow off the edges of the borderless quilt.

The back is another story. I inserted a strip of the focus fabric and added some half-kaleido blocks made from the leftover focus fabric. Nancy used a lighter thread for the kaleidoscope blocks on the front, creating an almost lacelike effect on the back:

Just for fun, the label is the same octagonal shape as the kaleidoscope blocks:

My quilt was on display at the Pine Needle last weekend . . .

. . . and today it went to Silverton, Oregon where it will be shown at the Stitches in Bloom Quilt Show at the Oregon Garden this Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26.

About the fabrics: the Jacobean floral is from the Ruby line by Timeless Treasures. Before sewing the kaleidoscope wedges together, I sewed on sashing strips of a soft mossy green (Shadow Play) and a pale coral dot (The Emperor’s Garden), both by Maywood Studios. The background fabric — a soft inky blue-black with hints of charcoal — is Modern Textures by Marcia Derse, from the Riverwoods Collection for Troy Corporation.