Last week we had a visitor – Barb from Just Sayin’ Sew came to play for a couple of days. And play we did! It was a mini quilt retreat. After seeing kaleidoscope stars on the All About Inklingo blog, we had both decided we had to make some.

So Barb bought some fabrics to make kaleidoscope stars, I picked out a couple of fabrics from my stash I wanted to use to make kaleidoscope stars and we were off to the races. As soon as Barb arrived, we got her fabrics washed and ironed and ready to print.

We tried the window templates for both 2″ and 3″ diamonds on our fabrics and both decided we preferred the Inklingo 2″ 60-degree diamonds for all of our kaleidoscope stars. Then the cutting of fabric, ironing to freezer paper and printing began. By the time dinner was over that first day, Barb was stitching kaleidoscope stars. And they’re really, really pretty. But to see them, you need to go to Barb’s blog post about kaleidoscope stars!

On the second day we got more fabrics ready, printed and cut out. And more kaleidoscope stars stitched. It was amazing just how much we got done in a very short space of time!

This fabric was in my stash and something kept telling me it would work for kaleidoscope stars.

We put the window template on it and both of us thought it wasn’t going to work, that the stars might be too much the same. But I was determined to give it a try. So I cut one 7.25″ strip from the length of the fabric, which gave me six full repeats, and printed enough for the first dozen kaleidoscope stars. Once I’d made the first couple, I realized these were going to turn into some fabulous kaleidoscope stars.

So how many have I made? One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

And now, there’s an even dozen.

There are six dozen more, all cut out and ready to stitch, in this box. They’re incredibly addictive and quick to stitch and it’s such fun to see each star come together with a totally different look from the one before. And I’d better get at least another half dozen stitched, as the box lid won’t close until I do!

But it’s even worse than that. I am having so much fun making these that I’ve printed more of the 2″ diamonds on two other fabrics. I have lots of setting ideas for the kaleidoscope stars, so each of the three quilts will be different. And I’m very tempted by another fabric in my stash, thinking it might turn into some very, very pretty kaleidoscope stars.

After Barb left, both Mr. Q.O. and I were missing her. And Baxter? Baxter kept looking around for her. I think she’s the cat whisperer. Seriously. After Barb left, I would come in and Baxter would be looking behind me to see if Barb was there too. I think my kitty lost his little kitty heart to Barb. We’re hoping she comes for another visit soon!

Alfie the Alien shows off his shape-shifting skills.

Mr. Q.O. captioned this one, “There’s one missing,” saying it in reference to a missing toy. I think he’s missing Barb.