Fall Quilt Festival - the Kaleidoscope quilt

This is my second entry into the Fall Quilt Festival - the large quilt category. My other quilt is in the modern category. I finished this quilt in August. It is fun, vibrant, and exciting both from a distance and up close. I loved the quilt from when I first saw it in the book, but it looked so difficult I put it off a bit. In reality it was much easier to make than I thought it would be and since not two blocks are the same it was never boring either. Seeing the pieces come together was awesome.  

Some facts:

Size: 74x74 inches

Fabric: Anna Marie Horner and Amy Butler mixed

Background: Dark, grey fleece

Pattern: Saltwater Taffy from Stephanie Dunphys book 'Uncommonly Corduroy'. I enlarged the templates slightly to make the quilt a tad bigger than the pattern suggested.

Background and batting: dark grey thick fleece and polyester batting

When making it I compared it to making a puzzle. Every bit of fabric had to be placed right to ensure the balance. I didn't plan it when cutting so I just had a big pile of prints that had to create a certain balance. It was fun... In fact fun, exciting and playful pretty much sums up making the Kaleidescope quilt.

This was my first attempt on the kaleidescope block. I had long admired the more classical quilts but totally fell for this take on it. The fabric is big, bright and modern and I think it really enhances the vulcano feeling. 

I used a dark grey, thick, top of the class fleece as the backing, making this a very warm and comfy quilt. Almost as a duvet. It's destined to go under the Christmas tree... shhh.... don't tell anyone ;)

I have a feeling this won't be the last kaleidescope quilt, but for now I'm of off to surf the Bloggers Quilt Festival entries :)