Happy day everyone! Lol not sure if that will be an actual happy Monday or Tuesday by the time I get this posted so we’ll go with happy day! On Friday I bought a software that allows you to make kaleidoscope images out of your photos or any digital image. It’s a software that I saw being used on The Quilt Show with guest, Katie Fowler. She was making incredible mandala quilts using this software, watercolor Inktense pencils, aloe, and fabric paper. I had previously purchased the Inktense pencils and I was feeling so excited to give this a whirl in a smaller form such as a pillow.
I was particularly intrigued that Katie started with quilt blocks that eventually became unrecognizable after going through the kaleidoscope process. It seemed like a good starting point so I began with a Mariner’s Compass that I uploaded from EQ8.
The software allows you to choose what style kaleidoscope you want and takes a small segment of the image to make it. You can move the image around to get all manner of kaleidoscope designs.
You keep rotating the image until you find a design that pleases you. I made one design from the Mariner’s Compass block and then used that design to segment a new kaleidoscope and that is what I used for my pillow.
I printed the design out on fabric paper and colored it with the watercolor pencils.
Next I used a small paintbrush and applied aloe to blend the colors and make the whole design more saturated with color.
I cut the kaleidoscope out and then fused it to white Kona fabric. I used a blanket stitch around the edges of the applique’ and then added decorative stitches around the whole design. I used this awesome decorative stitch foot that I purchased for a few bucks on Amazon to to keep the decorative stitches even.
I stitched an envelope style pillow backing to the front and here’s the end result!
I can’t wait to play with the software more and try a wall hanging next!
Sandi
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