Scrappy Kaleidoscope Quilt

This is the process I completed to make a scrappy kaleidoscope quilt out of baby receiving blankets.I made this quilt a scrappy kaleidoscope because there were so many different designs and patterns in the blankets. I couldn't find just one main color or design to build upon so I decided to create an eye catching pattern with a secondary design. 

First, cut the blankets so there is no binding. I found that some of the blankets had two layers. 

*** I ironed fusible webbing to the back of each blanket to stabilize. I would highly recommend not skipping this step. It makes a huge difference when you sew the pieces together and when your quilt is quilted. 

So, make sure to stabilize the fabric. ***

To cut the thousands of pieces, I used my Alto's board. It saved me a lot of time. If you don't have this board, it's ok. You just need a kaleidoscope ruler. I bought mine at the local crafting store. 

Here are some of the pieces I cut. I used the 45 degree angle on my cutting guide to help cut. 

Here are some of the pieces...

Here are more of the pieces...

Once everything was cut, I matched the pieces I wanted to sew together. Lay the pieces "face to face" and pin the sides you are going to sew. I found that pinning helped with these fabrics since some were thicker than others. 

Once sewn together, iron open.

Iron the back open too. You will need to do this because you will have many fabrics joining at one point. Ironing your seams open will help create a flatter quilt. 

Here are four pieces I will sew together to make one kaleidoscope block. 

Sew to pieces together. Iron open both the front and back.

After sewing the four (4) pieces together, you will end up with two halves. Lay them "face to face" and pin them together. Make sure to pin the middle of each half together so when you open the kaleidoscope you will have a mirror. 

Here are a few examples of the blocks when they are sewn together. These blocks are now ready for the corners. 

I stacked my blocks while they waited for corners. The stack was extremely large when it was finished. 

I first cut 3.5 inch strips. Then I cut 3.5 inch squares. Last, I turned my cutting guide and cut a 45 degree angle creating triangles. 

Here's what the triangles look like after I cut them. 

Sew a triangle onto which fabric you want to make your corner. I tried to choose contrasting colors. 

Open the corners and make sure they line up and are not too short. If the corners are too short you can: cut larger triangles or when you square off the blocks you will cut them down to a smaller size. I would just make new triangles if mine were too short so I don't lose the size of the block. 

Iron the triangles open to make your corner. They will not line up exactly, so you will need to square the blocks off later. 

I made half of the squares with white corners and half with blue corners to help make the secondary design in the quilt. You can either choose to make the corners all one color, however; it might not make the secondary design I was creating. 

After sewing and ironing the corners, square the blocks so all blocks are the same size. I found I had to make my blocks a quarter inch smaller than expected after I added the corners due to a mistake I made on a few blocks. It all worked out in the end though. 

Lay the blocks out before sewing so you can make sure you don't have too much of one fabric in the same area. This helped give me a visual of the finished product (both color-wise and size wise).

Start sewing the blocks together in strips. I chose to sew my strips together widthwise to it would be easier for me to deal with later in the process. However, if you would like to sew your blocks together in longer strips, it will be just fine. 

**Make sure to iron the seam open after adding each block!**

Here are the strips sewn together without any borders. 

Here is a close up of the quilt top without being quilted. 

Once I was happy with my quilt top, I added borders to complement the top. I think borders help finish the quilt and make it look more complete. 

Then, I quilted the quilt top. I used a soft cuddle fabric on the back. 

Here is the finished product:

It measured to be a queen size quilt when it was finished. 

Here is the cuddle fabric I used on the back. I chose to quilt hearts, loops and stars all over the quilt to stick with the baby theme and complement the fabric on the front.