I love Kaleidoscope quilts (as you can see on this blog 
) and I particularly love ‘colors of the sea’ Kaleidoscopes because I think they capture – in a small way – the shifts and swirls of sea water. Having said that, the best one I made was the first one I made, and since then, I haven’t been so happy.
I have a whole bunch of sea blocks, and I’ve had them up on my project wall forever, trying to figure out why they weren’t working for me. One day, I was almost ready to put them together, and I got the big AHA.
It’s the transition blocks.
In my first quilt, I made a mistake, but I made it on purpose. Instead of making the corner blocks contrast, I made all the corners meeting together the same color. It takes more work, and it is slow and painstaking work, but – to me – what a difference.
A quilt with contrasting corner blocks (meaning the corner of each Kaleidoscope block):
A close up of contrasting corner blocks where they meet:
And now, the newest top, with all the corner blocks meeting up with the same color. To me, it makes a smoother transition, to me, it helps capture the swirling motion I am seeking:
I know this is all very personal, my preference may not be your preference. What do you think; do you think it makes a difference?
