Calypso Kaleidoscope

Calypso Kaleidoscope is almost a flimsy! Yea!!! Today I finished the corners and added them to the center field. It takes up my entire 8 ft square design wall! Right now it measures 98 x 98. Once I add the final black borders it will finish at 106 x 106. 

A computer image of the original pattern...

This project started a year ago as a 2015 BOM with Stephanie at Quilt Addicts Anonymous. As usual I took my own path and ventured out of the crayon box ;0) It started with a few changes in the center, then a picket fence border turned into a zigzag. Came up with a paper pieced yellow cornerstone to add to the zigzag border.  From there, changes to all of the remaining blocks in the corners of the medallion. Pulled from my stash. The original is made with Moda's Calypso Batiks and Bella solids in black. The original is a beautiful medallion or it would not have drawn me in.

We had wind and wild weather that started in Red Bluff and headed our way this afternoon so I shut down. Tornado and so much hail they used a snow plow to clear I5. Thankfully, it dissipated by dark and Chico was not affected. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend

Tot ziens, Jo

A UFO New Year

A little late to the party! I have been busy tho... getting over a bug, making changes around the house and my longarm business. We moved my industrial straight stitch into my longarm studio. It will be put back into use for window treatment UFOs for our house. No... there are no plans to go back into the window treatment business so please don't ask!

2016 WILL BE the year for UFOs! As tempting as the new projects are at this time of the year... I AM GOING to finish last year's first! Calypso is pretty close to a flimsy. Sew far this month, all of the blocks are sewn and the first triangle/quadrant of the medallion is together. Yea! Good start, now to keep it going for the whole year with more UFOs.

This is a pic from last year. My very old camera, the very first digital Olympus came out with has given up and I am searching for a camera. Any suggestions for a good camera for taking pix of quilts would be appreciated!

I made the difficult decision to cut back my longarm business. Here is a post from this morning about those changes.

Got tiered of being badgered by Microsoft and made the change to Windows10. Haven't decided if it's an 'up'grade or an annoyance. Definitely more invasive! 

Looking forward to what the New Year brings and the path it takes.

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave"

Native American proverb 

  

Tot ziens, Jo

Calypso progress

Over the weekend and a little more progress last night I have a design that is working for me. Calypso Kaleidoscope is a 2015 BOM with the last block scheduled for December. Long story short, I went off on my own :0) with a goal for a flimsy this Fall. Brandie challenged me to have it ready for our guild's upcoming quilt show. Wow, stress... no thank you! There are too many quilts here in my studio that are scheduled to be quilted for the show already including one of my own. So I am taking a breath and enjoying the process of the design. 

This is my favorite block and will be the corners of the quilt. 

This is where I'm headed with three different star patterns plus the corner pinwheel.

To see the original quilt layout, it's pictured in the two previous posts. Thank you to Stephanie of Quilt Addicts Anonymous for hosting the 2015 Calypso Kaleidoscope BOM that got me hooked on this quilt and to Lynn Wilder of Sew'n Wild Oaks for a great workshop, Patchwork Math that took me on my own path :0) Last night I worked on the corners for the inner border (that I had already changed from a picket fence to a zig zag design) that goes around the center medallion. Fun!

For now it is up on my design wall to ponder as I longarm quilts for the show as well as samples for PIQF that is coming up very very soon. Loving this change in the weather! Makes working on quilts allot more comfortable these daze.  Also helping with the terrible fires here in California. Thoughts and prayers going out to allot of people as well as the firefighters.

Jim, Nicky and Sandy at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City have put out an email asking for quilts to be given to families of the Lake County fires to let them know we care. Here is a link to the Sew So Shop's web site if you would like to donate. Anyone from the Chico area,  you may contact me, I will be going to the shop. Tot Ziens, Jo 

Calypso Kaleidoscope

Progress, I think or should I say... 

Still a work in progress... Yep that's it!

Every time I walk up to the design wall it changes ;0) 

Quite a change right now from the original BOM I started at the beginning of the year. Here is a link to my last blog post with the center and below a graphic of the original pattern. 

2015 Calypso Kaleidoscope BOM by Quilt Addicts Anonymous

Not sure where mine will go from here but Lynn Wilder and her Patchwork Math workshop has allot to do with the changes!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Spent time working on my Calypso Kaleidoscope yesterday and Saturday attended a maintenance workshop for my Innova at the Sew So Shop in Yuba City. I learned many things from Jim and Nicky. Looking forward to another workshop with Karen on using Rulers on a longarm. Karen is a very good longarm quilter. I saw some of her work earlier this year at the Yuba City Quilt Show. Wow! Looking forward to spending a day with her! 

Enjoy your week

Tot Ziens, Jo

Calypso Kaleidoscope

Made progress on my 2015 Kaleidoscope BOM! Over the weekend I finished the borders surrounding the center medallion. Changed from the original pattern with a picket fence border, I added triangles to both ends to add a little more interest and fun! 

Next is to design new corners as well. Here is a line drawing I am playing with...

Last night I finished squaring lots of HSTs prepping for the setting triangles that will be added next. My Patchwork Math book came in handy to make them 8 at a time! That was a breeze and they went together so much faster. Yea! Now to sew them together, this evening if I find the energy. Below is a graphic of the original pattern...

2015 Calypso Kaleidoscope BOM by Quilt Addicts Anonymous 

It was another hot summer day in Chico, triple digits again. Without air conditioning in my studio, it makes for some early mornings, starting between 5 and 6 am to take advantage of the cool morning temps. Looking forward to some cooler temps with schools beginning this week. It's been hazy with smoke while Cal Fire planes taking off frequently throughout the day from the Chico airport and banking over our house on their way to area fires. So scary. 

Enjoy what's left of your summer

or winter, depending on your location on the planet! 

Tot ziens, Jo






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Design wall Monday

Calypso center and the March portion of this BOM is together and up on my wall.
Info and links for the project on the previous blog post.

Enjoy your week

Tot Ziens, Jo

New projects

I've been keeping my eye on a couple of 2015 quilt projects. Looking to see where they are going and how they are written before jumping in. Have decided on two of them to make this year. Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp is a given. It's a BOW. Another, I started last weekend is a BOM ~ Calypso Kaleidoscope by Stephanie Soebbing with info on her website Quilt Addicts Anonymous. Access to the pattern is free on Craftsy.

This evening I worked on the 3rd section for March and did a layout up on my design wall. 

Not sewn into complete blocks yet I wanted the flexibility to move the smaller 4 1/2 inch blocks around on my design wall to play with the batiks. As usual I made a few changes to the layout as well. I was drawn to the dramatic effect of bright batiks with black and it's a medallion! I used Kona black and love it, so nice to work with! Also nice is to play with batiks, my second favorite fabrics next to CW reproduction and they couldn't be more polar opposite. It keeps me balanced! 

So far so good. The pattern is well written. Stephanie also has video instructions on u-tube, altho I haven't watched. Every fabric has been pulled from my stash, a goal this year. A link to see the entire quilt top. The center will be set on point altho right now it looks like it is. You'll see or you could just tilt your head ;0)

My quilting plans this weekend are to work on bindings and labels to finish UFOs and put these blocks together. Enjoy your weekend and make the time to take some stitches. 

  

"We will be known forever by the tracks we leave."
Native American Proverb

Tot ziens, Jo