2012 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend

Our main project for the 2012 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend is "Celebrations" by Marilyn Foreman.  We are adding a twist to her fantastic pattern by adding kaleidoscope blocks from a great print fabric to some of her blocks.  First, here is her pattern as printed:

Now here are a few examples of different quilts using the kaleidoscope blocks in the quilt:

This is a closeup of just the center of the quilt.  Below is the fabric I used to make my blocks:

A medium to large graphic print really works the best.  You don't want too much background in your print.  I prefer to have a lot of different colors.

This quilt has an oriental fabric for the blocks.  The colors are very soft but still very effective.

Barb and Toni were two of my "testers" on this pattern.  Toni used a very bright print for her quilt.  Barb's fabric had fewer colors with a light background but really turned out great.

This is Barb's when she was assemblying it.

A full view of Toni's quilt.  She used a lot of  brights and her orange was last year's Yard that Keeps on Going.............

Tish's fabric had a lot of dark fabrics.  The star fabric is her own rust dyed fabric.

Below are some fabrics I found on Hancock's of Paducah that would really work well for this project.

It doesn't have to be floral although floral works great.

I would also like to share the following links on fabric selection for this quilt:

Connecting Threads - Selecting fabric for kaleidoscope quilts - This is a tutorial that has a lot of good information on your fabric selection. 

Quilt Moments - This is the webpage for Marilyn Foreman's patterns.  Take a look at her quilts.  She uses the same fabric for the outside border on a lot of her quilts that she uses to do her kaleidoscope blocks.  She uses a lot of florals.  I hope to have many of Marilyn's patterns for sale at the retreat.  She writes a great pattern.

After you have chosen your main fabric, read through Diane's advice in your registration packet on selecting other fabric to go with your focus fabric.  We will also have a lot of hand dyed fabric that works great as accent fabrics with your focus fabric.

If you are looking at a fabric and are not sure,  you may email Diane or I a picture of it and we would  be glad to let you know how it would work.

If you have any questions, please contact us.  We are very excited about this great project for our November retreat.  See you then.

Barb