Hey Everyone, welcome back to Story Time Monday.

Last spring the ladies at Country Concessions asked me to demonstrate some rulers and the Marti Michell Kaleido Ruler was one of them. I had lots of fun playing with it and creating a couple of different kaleidoscope designs.

This block is what is called the spider web design. It uses gradated strips of fabric to create the spider web. These strips are sewn together into a fabric run and then cut into pie shapes for each section of the block. In order to have the design work there needs to be different values of the fabrics ranging from very light to dark.

I love how the secondary design forms as the blocks are put together. That’s the great thing about the kaleidoscope block there is always secondary designs within the quilt. These blocks create great optical illusions. And depending on the colours and placement of the values of the colours they can be mind boggling.

See the secondary octagon design in the middle

With the colours that have been used I think that each section of the block looks like a piece of that Halloween candy called Candy Corn. The block is a 10 inch block.

Close up of block and quilting

The quilting I did on this piece was very simple straight stitching echoing each section of the block. I used a cotton variegated thread in gold which stands out and blends in just enough to help highlight the design of the blocks.

This is a great little quilt to use as a table topper or wall hanging which is 26 x 26 inches square. For those of you wishing to make one and learn this technique you can join me for a class at Creativfest this October. The class runs from 5 – 8 pm on Thursday October 24.

Looking forward to seeing you in class.

Happy Quilting!