xx Our guild’s Challenge quilts for 2007 each had to include a kaleidoscope block, a nine-patch block, green, purple and a flower.
xx I had fun making the kaleidoscope blocks, using Paula Nadelstern’s method and one of her fabrics. I actually used templates and fussy cut the patches — no speed sewing here.
xx It was going so well, I really didn’t want to have to put in the 9-patch or flower. The challenge rules forced me to be more creative and I found a great way to use the 9-patches. (The tiny gold squares in the purple outer sections are the diagonal squares of the 9-patches.) I think it’s a better quilt because of those little 9-patches.
xx I found tiny yellow flower beads to sew onto the tiny gold squares of the 9-patches. Yeah - I met all the rules!
xx The kaleidoscope fabric has purple and green in it, but from a distance it was hard to see the purple. So, I thought the purple around the outside of the quilt looked a little out of place. So, I added the larger purple beads, with gold seed beads on either side, to the red diamonds to bring some purple into the center of the quilt. I even did a little hand quilting in those patches between the beads.
xx I did some invisible quilting in the kaleidoscope blocks with black cotton thread. I used gold sliver thread in the ditch and the gold and red diamonds, and purple sliver thread in the green and purple patches around the outside. The gold and green diamonds are cotton lame fabric.

This quilt won first place in my guild’s challenge show! I was always drawn to 6-pointed stars and thought I’d like to make one someday. I’m naming this one, “My One and Only”!

It also won a Second Place ribbon at the 2007 Millennium Quilters Quilt Show in Bridgeport, WV!