Kaleidoscope Quilts

• 1). Tape together two small frameless mirrors along one long side so that the tape creates a hinge between the two mirrors.
  
  
• 2). Set your hinged mirror pair along the two sides of the template that meet at the center point in the quilt block. This will show you how far apart to keep the mirrors when checking the fabric.
  
  
• 3). Smooth a length of the fabric on a table in front of you. Move the mirror pair onto the fabric, keeping them at the same angle as they were around the template. Look in the mirror to see what the finished kaleidoscope block pattern will look like. When you find a look that you like for one block, mark the fabric along the bottom edge of the two mirrors.
  
  
• 4). Place the template on the fabric to cut out one wedge of the kaleidoscope in the chosen fabric piece. Look over the fabric to find a repeat in the pattern that looks exactly like the piece that you cut out, and cut out another one that is an exact copy of the first one. Locate and cut out six more wedges that look exactly the same, for a total of eight.
  
  
• 5). Sew two wedges together to create a larger wedge. Create three more wedges in the same manner. Sew the wedge pairs together into half-circle shapes, then sew the long center seam together to complete the kaleidoscope for the center of your block. Continue making blocks in this same way until you have enough for your quilt.
  
  

Watercolor Quilt

• 1). Purchase a large scale print with good contrast between the background and the print. Cut your fabric into equal-sized squares. Make the squares large enough to show a good bit of design variation in the pattern, at least 3 inches across.
  
  
• 2). Separate the squares into piles, depending on how much of the print shows on the square. Make a pile for fabrics that are roughly half and half vertically, those with one corner covered with print, those with the print covering a V-shaped area on one side of the square, those with print half and half diagonally, and those that are either mostly background or mostly print.
  
  
• 3). Arrange all of the fabric squares on a table in a grid design. Begin with background fabrics in the corners. Use the pieces of fabric that have more print on them together to create a wreath shape in the center of the grid. Use the diagonal pieces to create the curved corner of the wreath, the vertical half and half pieces for the sides of the wreath and the other pieces to fill in the wreath shape. Finish the edges of the grid with more pieces cut from background fabric.
  
  
• 4). Sew the grid pieces into strips, then sew the strips into one piece for your wall hanging.
  
  

Fussy Cutting

• 1). Purchase a fabric with a lot of large animals, flowers or other distinctive shapes. A fabric with many different colors is better than one with just a few colors. This will make your quilt look as if you collected a large number of fabrics to complete it.
  
  
• 2). Create a quilt template by cutting out a square of cardboard or template plastic that is 1/2 inch larger than you want your quilt squares to be. Cut out another square in the center in the first one in the exact size of your desired quilt square. This will create a frame with the center hole the size of your finished quilt square.
  
  
• 3). Lay the frame on your fabric so that one picture is perfectly centered in the frame. Draw around the inside of the frame, marking the outside of your quilt patch. Move the frame to another location around a new picture, then mark around this one as well. Continue marking squares with perfectly centered pictures until you have enough for your quilt block.
  
  
• 4). Cut out each square, cutting 1/4 inch away from each marked line to add a 1/4 inch seam allowance to the quilt patches.
  
  
• 5). Sew your quilt blocks together, making sure to sew exactly along the marked lines to keep the picture centered in the blocks.