Wow, I'm amazed at all of the progress in the Flickr group this week.  The thing I love about quilt-alongs is that you can work at your own pace, and I enjoy seeing the different ways people interpret a pattern.  This week's progress mosaic includes some really awesome takes on the Kaleidoscope, and I can't wait to see more!


This week, we're going to focus on finishing up your kaleidoscope blocks.  There's three basic chain-piecing steps that we'll follow to finish piecing the blocks, then we'll square them up, if need be, and next week, we'll start putting those tops together!  Are you excited?   I know I am, let's get started!

1) With a quarter-inch seam, sew a neutral triangle one of the pairs you sewed up last week.  Make sure to place your neutral triangle, wrong side up, on top of your corner triangle/kaleidoscope triangle pair, with right sides facing.  You will add a neutral triangle to each of the pairs you made last week.


Finger press your seams open, then finish them off with the iron to set the seam.  You've now finished a quarter of all of your blocks!!

2) Next, if you haven't already done some sorting, now's the time.  Find four pieces that you want to match up to make your blocks and make some piles.  For each block, you should have two piles, and in this step, we're going to be seaming your two quarter pieces into half of a block.


3) Finally, let's take those half blocks and seam them together, again, using a quarter-inch seam.  Some people find this step a little bit tricky.  Here's how I match up the seams.


Carefully line up the center of each block, making sure that the seams match up, and for good measure, stick a pin in the center to hold it in place.

As for pressing, I do press my seams open, and I have found that in my final press of each block that a little bit of Best Press sometimes helps things lay down a bit flatter.  Another trick for making your blocks lay flat is to press your seams to the side, in a clockwise fashion, which will create a little bit of pinwheel action on the back, like Freda showed off in Flickr group below...


I can never remember to press my seams to the side, even when I want to, so my seams on this project are all pressed open, but do what works for you!  And don't worry about bulky block centers - I've found that once you've quilted, bound, and washed a quilt, bulky block centers disappear into crinkly wonderful-ness :)

Once you get your blocks sewn up, start to have some fun with them - lay them out in different ways and see what strikes your fancy.  Even if you've got a clear-cut idea for your quilt, play a little bit.  You might surprise yourself.  I can't wait to see more finished blocks popping up over on Flickr!  I hope you're having as much fun with this quilt-along as I am :)