Quilted Block of the Month Kaleidoscope Arcs

Butternut, Pumpkin Seeds, Pepitas, curves, arcs whatever you call them they soften up hard lines on any quilt. But did you know they might lead to

dancing?

Well perhaps not dancing, but rather a source for adding texture to create visual interest. When I’m working on these blocks I’m going for fun, and done. Because for everything that we do in our daily lives quilting is fun, brings pleasure, releases stress, gives us time away from daily life things. So nothing I show you will be perfect, it’s quite possible it’ll be more detailed than necessary but hey, using thread is so fun.

I’m showing the back first. This center stitching is all based on the butternut/pumpkin seed stitching. Simple. Remember this is NOT perfect, and it is that imperfection that give this quilt some of the visual interest.

As you know I’m not much of a planner when it comes to quilting. I do admire quilters who plan, like Lisa Calle, her Divide and Design gives quilters a way to, layer by layer, see how their quilts will look when the quilting is finished. The surprise makes me kind of giddy. So as I got started on the center I thought, I’ll use this butternut/pepita motif as curvy lines soften straight lines. So off I go stitching, stitching!

Look closely, you can see the pink line running through? That’s the “bones” or stitching in the ditch. It is around these lines that the arcs are stitched, from corner to corner, around the center “square” where the corners of the blocks would meet, if there were blocks, but there aren’t any, so…
I stitched up toward the peak of the triangle in between the feathers, when I got about half-way up I started heading up into the peak of the triangle. This helps create that deeper line heading out toward that peak.

Once this was finished I moved into the center making the arcs along side where the seams of the blocks would meet up.

You can see it a bit better from the front:

This changes the shape, the visual shape of the kaleidoscope blocks. Seams that were once easily noticed, are now hidden in the stitching. This takes a little doing, and a bit of time. It’s right after this that “Brain Dump: Stitch the Stuff of your Dreams, Release the Kraken” came to be. This shows, and represents a shift in thinking about what can be stitched, a letting go of the “should” and stitching the stuff that is just waiting to be stitched out. You know the stuff, we see it on a quilt, and yet hesitate because it won’t be perfect, or it might not turn out exactly as we think it should.

I’m heading out on Wednesday for back to back Hands on Sewing Schools with Floriani. The first is in Pennsylvania so Road Trip! The second is in Pigeon Forge TN. Check back on Wednesday for links to the facebook pages, a finished quilt top (see a sneak peek below) for one of the other educators, and a couple of in-the-hoop cosmetic bags designed by Pickle Pie designs.

Enjoy your stitching,

Teri