kaleidoscope quilt pattern by paula nadelstern

Kaleidoscope quilt pattern by paula nadelstern how to#
Kaleidoscope quilt pattern by paula nadelstern full#

Lots of teachers on the circuit will tell you about the important female in their early lives who taught them to how to sew, insisting (kindly or not) that all imperfection be repaired. I don’t see the final gestalt until the last seam is sewn.ĭo you remember the process of creating your first quilt and how you felt once it was finished? Whatever I do to one triangle, I simultaneously do to all 6 or 8 or 16. Throughout the design stage, I’m working on a single full-size triangle that is drafted on graph paper and patched from fabric using templates. Instead of the traditional square-shaped-block, my block-style method is based on a triangle because a kaleidoscope is a circular design composed of identical triangular wedges that radiate from a center point. I think the reality of limited space helped shape my idiosyncratic style. (I’m the only person I know who taught her family to eat in front of the TV). When I started making kaleidoscope quilts, my workspace in our two-bedroom apartment was the forty-inch round kitchen table. My family’s living arrangements in an urban environment created similar considerations that, unwittingly, I resolved in much the same way. Historians have suggested that the block-style method of making quilts evolved in response to the cramped quarters of early American life.

With hindsight I’ve realized that another factor played strongly in the development of my personal design and technique strategies. Who knows what the next turn of the scope will reveal to me or to you? As I peer through the many incredible kaleidoscopes I have garnered over the years, like a sleuth searching for clues, I discover my design inspiration all over again. The insight from this anecdote is obvious: buy that piece of fabric no matter how expensive it is. The amazing first bolt of Liberty of London fabric Little did I know that purchasing a quarter yard would change my life forever, leading me three years and four quilts later to purchase my first actual state-of-the-art kaleidoscope and join the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society, The BKS is a society of artists who design and create kaleidoscopes, galleries and shops who sell kaleidoscopes and collectors and museums who appreciate and enjoy them. My interest in things kaleidoscopic began in 1987 when I was struck by a bolt of fabric–a sumptuous, sinfully-expensive, bilaterally symmetrical Liberty of London cotton. Who or what has been your greatest creative inspiration? And to this day, over 40 years later, the Nursery moms make an annual raffle quilt. By the time I gave up my place on that bench to the next generation of moms, I had the expertise and repertoire for a comprehensive book on group quilts ( Quilting Together, Crown Publishers 1988) and was stitching my way toward a new career. One good group quilt led to another and another. That’s where moms on hiatus from previous lives (I was an Occupational Therapist) hang out and share ideas-like organizing total non-sewists and quilt novices into making a raffle quilt for the local cooperative nursery school, the same one I’d gone to as a toddler.

Kaleidoscope quilt pattern by paula nadelstern full#

I settled into full time quilt making by way of the playground park bench. In fact, I make my quilts on the same block in the Bronx where I grew up. I’m a New Yorker wrapped up in the fabric of city life. For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.Ĭan you tell us a bit about yourself and how you first got started in the world of quilting and textiles?

To view this info on our website, click the image above. The collection features 12 unique colors of the highly versatile 50wt thread. Though these colors work particularly well in partner with Paula’s unique quilting style, they would also be the perfect complement to a variety of quilt projects. Oranges, reds and pink offset the cool blue and green tones, creating a truly fantastic range. Paula Nadelstern‘s Deep Gems collection for Aurifil was prepared as a representation of the vibrant and rich colors typically present within her kaleidoscopic fabric designs.