Saturday, October 8, 2016

sparkly jeweled kaleidoscope



has written her first pattern,
Jeweled Kaleidoscope,
and it goes on sale Oct 12th!


I am so excited for her,
and when she offered to let me pattern test for her,
I said, "Sure!"
after hesitating slightly,
because darn it,
the thing is foundation paper pieced.


But I like Allison,
so I wanted to do it anyways.


Plus
 I think I'm an excellent candidate for pattern testing,
what with my extreme pickiness
and tremendous difficulty reading patterns.

I figure if I can make heads or tails of it,
then anyone can.


And if any clarification is needed as far as instructions go,
well, I'm just the gal to point that out ;-)


I'm also adept at generous with
comma usage,
and I have been known to email bloggers and,
very politely, of course,
let them know they've used the wrong homophone
(because *I* would want to know....)


What I'm not always so great at it 
is using a pattern to it's fullest potential,
but fortunately, 
Allison had some other testers who really shined.


When I looked at her  #jeweledkaleidoscopequilt on Instagram,
I wondered more than once 
why I hadn't thought to do that?!


This is a really fun pattern,
and the more blocks one makes,
the cooler it looks.


I knew right away
that after I did one test block at full size
(I'll share that soon!  you can find that one here :-)
I wanted to shrink the mini version of the quilt
(yes! there are multiple sizes, from an 18 inch mini to a full/queen size) 
and make a mini mini version
as a "congratulations on your pattern" gift to Allison.


(at 9 inches square,
this is actually kinda big for a mini mini,
but I didn't want to take a let's see just how small I can go approach this time)


As soon as I got my copy of the pattern,
I ordered a bundle of Basic Grey Grunge charm squares
and some grey Grey Grunge
to go with them,
because those are some of her favorite fabrics.


I also ordered some Moda Passport
thinking that was clever of me,
(she lives in Germany)
but the scale was far too big for the mini pattern,
so I choose another background fabric,
(Netorious - love every single color!)
and used the Passport on the back.


Now,
it's no secret that I'm not an FPP groupie.
At all.
 (I'm sure Allison was hoping that this would convert me ;-)


As much as I think this is a superb (and very well written!) FPP pattern,
with all sorts of design possibilities,
I've already worked out how I could make it
using regular piecing.
:-)




But this one?
This one I made following the instructions
exactly.
'cause that's how I roll, too.


If you've never tried foundation paper piecing,
this is an excellent pattern to try
as it's simple,
but packs a punch,
and Allison's instructions are really clear.
(and most people aren't as FPP challenged as I am!)

If you are already an FPP fan,
I think you will love Jeweled Kaleidoscopes!

Allison ~ Congratulations on your first pattern!!
I think you did an excellent job!
I hope you sell a ton :-)
p.s. I need your new address,
so I can send you this mini(ish) mini
to add to your collection.

6 comments:

  1. Wow - this is Fabulous (with a capital F)!! I have never used grunge before, but after seeing you and Allison use it, I feel I will have to invest in some. Love the sparkly thread quilting too - details please of what you used there. Well worth the wait and it is an easy pattern to start your paper piecing journey.

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    1. Thanks, Julie!!The grunge IS really nice - it doesn't seem to go on sale much, though, which is why I hadn't purchased any yet. The thread was Sulky Holoshimmer - it's the same stuff I used on Faith and Freedom. It's thinner and more subtle than the Sliver. (I really liked your version - very dynamic!)

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  2. visiting from crazy mum quilts. Wow the quilting on this is amazing. Well done

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    1. thank you!! That means a lot, because that is not the area where I shine, so I have committed to really working to improve my quilting :-)

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  3. Well, you had me a grunge! Such thoughtful details with fabric choices, and I love the metallic threads! I didn't notice until about half way through your post. As always, you've outdone yourself with another lovely project and I'm looking forward to the next one!

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    1. awww ~ thank you!!! I am so excited for Wednesday for you :-)

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