finished scrappy kaleidoscope quilt (with downloadable templates)

I have now updated the tutorial and templates and they can be downloaded for free in my shop.

I spent the last few days finishing up this quilt for my sister Carly.  This was the last in a series of scrap quilts for my sisters (and Mom).  You can find the other scrap quilts:

Scrap quilt for my Mom

Scrap quilt for Kelly

Scrap quilt for Kara

My sister lives in Utah in a basement apartment and it gets cold, so I wanted to make sure this quilt was extra warm.  The backing fabric is a pretty, tiny black and white herringbone Robert Kaufman Shetland flannel.  It is thick and warm and gives the quilt a nice weight.

I used Quilter's Dream wool batting and it was wonderful to work with.  I have only used wool batting one other time and I can't remember which brand it was, but the Quilter's Dream was much easier to use.  If you have never used wool batting, Debbie recently made a very informative post that is definitely worth checking out.

As you can see in the photo above, the seam on the back is kind of noticeable.  The flannel didn't appear to have a right or wrong side and I think I must have used one of each.  It isn't nearly this noticeable in person though and both sides feel just as snuggly.

The quilt top ended up with lots of Ann Kelle prints and I decided up using one of her new Remix stripe prints for the binding.  I quilted it with an "organic" cross hatch which basically means that I didn't mark the lines ahead of time and they definitely weave and wobble a little.  But I love how dense they are and how defined the lofty wool batting makes them.

This is the second kaleidoscope quilt I have made.  The first was with do. Good Stitches more than two years ago.  I wanted to use smaller blocks for my quilt so that I would be able to use smaller scrap pieces.  I made the block in EQ7 and printed out the templates which you can download here updated link (this makes an 8" finished block).  

  

In other news, I celebrated my 31st birthday yesterday and it was probably the best birthday I have ever had (I am currently eating leftover chocolate caramel cheesecake).  We didn't do anything spectacular, but my family gave me the sweetest notes and I got to spend all day with them and then go to dinner and a movie with my husband.  I am so grateful for these guys!