Troubleshooting printing problems
I’ve been a member of The Quilt Show (TQS) with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims since it began. One of the advantages of membership is an awesome Block of the Month quilt every year. This year’s quilt is designed by Sarah Vedeler. If you click on the link, you can probably see the possibilities for kaleidoscopes in this quilt, so I’ve been keeping up with the discussions on the TQS site as people start working on the quilt.
A few people have been having trouble getting their templates to line up after they’ve printed them out, so I’m working with Sarah to figure out what might be going wrong. I thought I’d do a blog post about them since (1) I can attach files and (2) Kaleidoscope Kreator fans might find these tips useful in general. continue reading…
Customer Creation: Claudette Pomroy’s Stuffed Kaleidoscope Ornaments
One of our customers, Claudette Pomroy, sent us photos of some ornaments that she’s made with Kaleidoscope Kreator and I just had to share them with you!
Stuffed kaleidoscope ornament
More kaleidoscope ornaments
Here’s what Claudette had to say about them:
Just wanted to show you the Holiday ornaments I made using your product. I turned the pictures into black and white, then tinted them blue in Photoshop Elements, and then used Kaleidoscope Kreator to make these “snowflake” shapes on printable fabric, pinwheel style. I used a light box to see where the image edges were through the fabric and traced the outline onto the back of the fabric. Then I used a snowflake fabric backing and sewed around the edges, right side to right side, leaving an opening for stuffing. After I stuffed the mini pillows I tufted them with a silver snowflake button, added hangers and small charms stating the year. My sister-in-law loved these as her gift a few years ago – these are her daughters. I like that from a distance they just look like snowflakes and that you don’t realize they are pictures until you see them up close.
When I asked for more details, Claudette was kind enough to send instructions so that you too can make these!
The Feather Zone
"Feather Zone" by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero & Teri Lucas
This quilt is a collaboration between me (Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero) and Teri Lucas. I designed the quilt at the same time I was designing the template shapes for our Feathers Template Mini-Pack. It was a bit of a challenge to put together the first time around – so much so that I scrapped that attempt and started over.
Almost the entire quilt is printed on 8.5″ x 11″ sheets of inkjet fabric with an Epson 2200. Only the thin red border is not printed. The dark purple border actually started as a lighter purple commercial fabric, but I needed it darker, so printed over it. Problem solved. 
Snowflakes Quilt
I made this quilt a few months ago as a class sample, but now that the holidays are here I thought I would enter it in SewCalGal’s 2011 Christmas Quilt Show.
If you have any Christmas or Winter themed quilts – especially if they are made with Kaleidoscope Kreator – you can enter too! Deadline is this Friday though (that’s 2 days away).
How to use the new Tiles I Template Mini-Pack
We’re excited to introduce our new Tiles 1 Template Mini-Pack! The shapes in this mini-pack are specifically designed to be tiled rather than stand on their own. This is a little different than all of our previous template shapes, so let’s go over the special features in Kaleidoscope Kreator 3 that you’ll need to preview and create tiled designs.
Choose a Tile shape
Quilting Arts TV taping with Sarah Vedeler
Many months ago, Sarah Vedeler & I decided to do a joint project for Quilting Arts TV Series 900. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but of course we didn’t start thinking about it until a month ago when both of our schedules had really filled up! Nevertheless, we found ourselves traveling to Cleveland this past Sunday for a taping on Monday.
I somehow managed to convince myself that it only took an hour to get to the airport, so I was running a little late by the time I got to Denver International Airport. Unfortunately, that meant I didn’t have as much time to see the art exhibits in the airport as I would have liked, but I was able to snap some quick photos. The Shadow Happy installation by Brianna Martray in the walkway to Concourse A was amazing – 10,000(!) origami cranes that appeared to be swooping around the pillars along each side of the walkway.
Shadow Happy exhibit
Blossoms Table Runner: A sample project for our new Blossoms Template Mini-Pack
I’ve been having way too much fun with our new Blossoms Template Mini-Pack which adds fifteen new shapes to transform your photos into fun flower designs. So I put together a project to inspire you to give them a try!
The table runner started with the following photo. If you click on the photo below, it will bring up a window with the full-size image that you are welcome to download for your own use. Just right-click on the larger image and choose “Save Image As” to save it to your hard drive.
Original photo used to make table runner
Just in Time for Spring: New Blossoms Mini-Pack
We’ll be unveiling our brand-new Blossoms Template Mini-Pack at the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah this week. Stop by our booth in the Pavilion (#4202) and be the first to see our latest fun mini-pack for Kaleidoscope Kreator 3.
After a long, dreary winter I was ready to see some springtime flowers, so I decided to create my own with this new collection of flower shapes. The cool thing is that you can make kaleidoscope flower designs from a photo of just about anything – I just look for bright colors and interesting textures, and let KK do the rest.
If you can’t make it to Paducah, the Blossoms Template Mini-Pack will be available in our online store shortly after the show, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, here are some of the designs I’ve created with the new templates to whet your appetite: continue reading…
More Kaleidoscope Pendants
After my last blog post, someone asked if it would be possible to use fabric rather than photo paper to make the resin pendants. I knew it was possible to embed fabric in the cast pieces, but I wanted to embellish the fabric with stitching and make domed pieces rather than cast. After a few “learning experiences”, I think I’ve figured out a way to do this – and I absolutely love the results!
Here are some tips to make these pendants. I assume you already know how to make the kaleidoscopes in Kaleidoscope Kreator and how to print on fabric. I am using the Little Windows resin and you can find instructions for the doming technique on their site.
Kaleidoscope Pendants
While in Houston at International Quilt Festival, one of our customers turned me on to a great product called Little Windows. It’s an easy way to turn photos into jewelry, but I immediately thought of using kaleidoscopes instead of photos.
I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve been having the past few days making some pendants with our new Template Mini-Packs! I’ve already used up the resin in the starter kit I purchased and ordered more.
Just a few of the kaleidoscope pendants that I've made using the Little Windows starter kit.
1 inch cast pendant. Design made with KK3 and Snowflakes Mini-Pack.
The resin is truly low-odor (though I still wear a mask as a precaution when using it since I plan on making a bunch of these for gift giving, i.e. greater potential for chemical exposure.) I won’t go into detail on how to use the resin since that process is explained quite well on the Little Windows website, but I’ll give you some hints as to how to size & cut out the kaleidoscopes.
