I am excited to be sharing my first attempt at a Kaleidoscope quilt:). It was amazingly easier than I thought it would be, and it turned out better than I could have ever imagined!

I am not a huge Harry Potter fan, but when I showed this quilt to my friend, that is the first thing she said, “oh! It’s Hedwig in the snow!” Lol! The name just stuck:)

I used the One Block Wonder method to kaleidoscope quilts by Maxine Rosenthal. While I didnt follow her method exactly by using her measurements, I did use her idea of sewing everything in strips instead of y-seams.

But I am getting ahead of myself—. The first thing I did was pick a panel I liked online. There are so many great fabric panels out there that it was hard to choose. I chose this one because I knew the kaleidoscopes would look like snowflakes and hey- it has snow!

Here is what the panel looked like. I bought seven of them.—-

I was surprised at how quickly this quilt went together. Really, I started cutting this quilt the week of Easter and have worked on it here and there.

I took six of the panels and lined them up perfectly using pins to ensure the little dots of each eye and snowdrop matched on each of the six panels. That is VERY important! All of the panels MUST be pinned every 4 or 5 inches throughout the entire quilt.

After pinning, I cut the entire panel into 2.5” strips. I cut one strip at a time and then used my wonderful Hex n More ruler to cut the strip into 60 degree triangles. I got mine on Amazon.

You can just use your 60 degree mark on your regular cutting ruler, but this hexi ruler made life so easy. I highly recommend it.

After cutting each stack of six triangles I made sure to keep each stack separate as they each would sew into a beautiful snowflake. I’m sorry, but I didn’t take a picture of these stacks. – Next time!

Each snowflake was sewn together in groups of three making two half hexis. I DID NOT sew the full hexagon together!

Next came the only tricky part, and that was only because I don’t currently have a design board. I laid my full panel on the ground and started placing my unfinished snowflake kaleidoscopes all around in a way that was pleasing to me.

I just built my hexis all around the panel until they were all used up.. and yes, I was worried the dog or a grandchild might come into my sewing room and mess them up and then I would be in a heap of trouble!

I absolutely would not let that happen, so I went to work sewing the hexagons together in strips. And THIS is where my HQAL hand quilting came along. —- the actual hexi part of this quilt had a large hole in it that framed the panel.

I glued the hexi quilt on top of the panel and hand appliquéd it to the panel! It worked GREAT!!!

Can you see my appliqué stitches? They are basically undetectable

I promise, this hexi quilt is all appliqués on top of the last panel. I cut the excess of the panel away on the back and then quilted it up. It was so fun!

Here are a few more pictures of my finished kaleidoscope quilt-

And here is the finished quilt again- well, it’s not bound yet but will be soon in a burnt orange.

I have loved making this quilt and joining along with the other talented hand quilters. I am heading over to see what they have all been stitching up!

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy and Tracy