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Kaleidoscope Collection by Andrea BishopKaleidoscope Collectors

October - Endless Possibilities

by Andrea Bishop

Welcome to the club! If you have EQ5 or EQ6 and the Kaleidoscope Collection add-on CD installed, you'll be able to follow along. This is the last of twelve Kaleidoscope lessons.

Intro

This month we are going to draw again. Make sure you brush up on the Foundation Fundamentals (Lesson 1 and Lesson 2) from earlier. We'll be using those "rules" again for drawing inside wedges and copying & pasting them to complete the block.

Start the Project

  1. Open EQ5 or EQ6.
  2. Start a new project and name it Kaleidoscopes Last Lesson. Click OK.

Start the Block

  1. Click WORKTABLE > Work on Block.
  2. Click BLOCK > New Block > EasyDraw Block.

Don't skip this part: Let's make sure our worktable is set up correctly.

EQ6 Users:

  • Turn on the Precision Bar if you haven't already. (Click the VIEW menu. If Precision Bar doesn't have a check next to it, click on those words to turn it on. If it does have a check, just click away from the list so you don't turn it off.)
  • Make your Precision Bar match mine (see picture below). My shorthand for this stuff will be the TAB order. So if you double-click on the Block Width, type in a new number, and press TAB, the numbers would be: 6, 6, 24, 24, 2, 2
    Then, Graph Paper Cells ON, Snap to Grid ON, Snap to Node ON, and Snap to Drawing OFF.

precision

EQ5 Users:

  • Change your Drawing Options in Preferences. (Click the FILE > Preferences. Click the Drawing Options tab. Put a check in the top two. Click OK.)
  • Make your Drawing Board Setup match mine (see pictures below).
    Click BLOCK > Drawing Board Setup.

    On the General tab, make your snaps 24 each and your block size 6 for both directions:
    precision

    On the Graph Paper tab, make your divisions 2x2 and set the style to be Graph paper lines.
    precision

    On the EasyDraw tab, make sure Snap to grid is checked, Snap to nodes is checked and Snap to lines and arcs is clear.
    precision

    Click OK.

Start the Circle

  1. Click the Arc Arc tool.

Tip:

* Remember, if your arc is facing the wrong way, press the SPACEBAR before releasing the mouse to flip the arc, then release.

  1. Make a circle by drawing 4 arcs that each start/end where the graph paper meets the block outline.
    circle
  2. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save your base.

Making a Hexagon Kaleidoscope - Break up the Circle

Tips:

* The following technique works because the radius never changes on a circle (length from the center to the edge). It is the same length anywhere on the circle. This is how you get any polygon.

* The trick to doing these is "common multiples." Your circle is already split into 4. What is the smallest number that plays nice with 4 and 6 (6 because we're doing a hexagon)? You might jump and say 24... but don't forget about 12.

So 4 x 3 = 12,
and 6 x 2 = 12.

  1. Click the Shape Shape tool (Edit tool in EQ5).
  2. We need to bring up the Edit box, so you can do any of the following ways: a) clicking the square in the bottom corner of the Shape tool image, b) clicking BLOCK > Edit on the menu bar, or c) by right-clicking anywhere and choosing Edit.
  3. Click on an arc to select it.
  4. We have 4 and need to split it into 12. So each arc needs to be split into 3. Click the Thirds button.
  5. Click on each of the remaining arcs and click the Thirds button for each. Your block will look like this now:
    12 nodes

Making a Hexagon Kaleidoscope - Draw the Sides

  1. Now that we have the circle split into 12, we just need to draw lines to every other node. Click the Line Line tool.
  2. Starting from the top-middle node, draw a line not to the next node, but to the node after that.
    skip a node
  3. Starting from where you left off, draw a line to the node 2 node spaces away.
  4. Keep drawing lines to every other node until you end at the top-middle node again. Your block should look like this now:
    all the sides
  5. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save this step.

Making a Hexagon Kaleidoscope - Draw the Edges of the Wedges (oooh that rhymes)

  1. Still using the Line Line tool, draw lines starting at one of the corners of the hexagon... through the center of the block to the opposite corner of the hexagon. You'll draw 3 lines and your block will look like this now:
    edges to the wedges
  2. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save this step.

Making a Hexagon Kaleidoscope - Clean Up the Base

  1. Click the Pick Pick tool (Select tool in EQ5).
  2. You don't need the circle anymore. Click on a section of the circle to select it with the Pick tool.
  3. Press your keyboard DELETE key to delete it. (Sometimes, I'm lazy and just right-click it and Convert to Guides... this works for EasyDraw, but never for PatchDraw.)
    clean it up
  4. Delete all 12 parts to the circle by clicking on each and pressing your keyboard DELETE key.
  5. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save this step. This is your hexagon base. You'll use this for every hexagon you want to draw. You might want to name it in the Sketchbook using the Notecard.

The rest is up to you.... what do you want to draw?

  1. Using the techniques you've learned over the last 12 months, use the Shape Shape tool (Edit tool in EQ5) to split one wedge into however many pieces you like.
  2. Use the Line Line tool to play connect the dots within the wedge. Remember not to break any of the foundation piecing rules (do Y's not X's, etc.). Use the trick with toggling to the Color tab and back to the EasyDraw tab to make the intersections and the Pick Pick tool (Select tool in EQ5) to delete of the parts you don't need.
  3. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save this step.
  4. Turn OFF Snap to Grid:
    EQ6 Users: click the Snap to Grid button on the Precision Bar so it isn't pressed in.
    EQ5 Users: go to BLOCK > Drawing Board Setup > EasyDraw tab > uncheck Snap to Grid > click OK.
  5. Click the Pick Pick tool (Select tool in EQ5).
  6. Click on one of the unique lines to the wedge and then SHIFT+click on the other unique lines, plus one anchor line that goes to an outside corner of the hexagon (marked in red).
    unique wedge lines plus an anchor
  7. EDIT > Copy (or CTRL+C).
  8. EDIT > Paste (or CTRL+V). Don't deselect it.

Tip: Because this shape has an even number of sides, we can rotate it around 180 degrees and do the work twice as fast. If this were a pentagon though, there's nothing on the other side... so you'd have to go from wedge to wedge... one by one.

  1. Click BLOCK > Symmetry on the menu bar or the square in the Pick tool button image to bring up the Symmetry box.
  2. Click Rot 180.
  3. Grab the selection by the crosshair in the middle. Move the selection to the opposite wedge you were working on. Drop it in place so the anchor snaps to the corner.
  4. While it's still selected, SHIFT+click the unique lines in the wedge you got it from (no need to get a second anchor).
    next set
  5. EDIT > Copy (or CTRL+C).
  6. EDIT > Paste (or CTRL+V). Don't deselect it.
  7. BLOCK > Rotate (or right-click and choose Rotate).
  8. Type 60 and click OK.
  9. Grab the selection by the crosshair. Move the selection into the next set of wedges. Remember where your anchor is and try to drop the selection into place so the anchor snaps.
    next set
  10. Repeat steps 37-41 for the last pair of wedges.
  11. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save the block.
  12. Click the Color tab and color your block.
    example 2
  13. Click the Add to Sketchbook add to skb button (Save in Sketchbook in EQ5) to save this coloring of the block.
  14. To draw another block in your hexagon base, click the View Sketchbook view skb button > Blocks section. Find your hexagon base (the cleaned up one you might have named on the Notecard). Click on it and click Edit. Keep drawing and saving each design.

example 1 example 2 example 3

Trying other Polygon Kaleidoscopes

Here's a cheat sheet for doing other kaleidoscopes with different sides. REMEMBER.... DON'T BREAK THE EASYDRAW RULES. YOUR SHAPE MUST TOUCH AT LEAST ONE SIDE OF THE BLOCK OUTLINE. Sometimes it's a good idea to draw anchor lines from the corners of the shape to the block outline

Number of sides

How to Split the Circle & where to draw

What degree to rotate

4

no need for a circle... it's just a square.
Do a 4-Patch or Four X block.

90 degrees

5

Partition each arc into 5, draw to every 4th node
5 sides

72 degrees

6

Partition each arc into 3, draw to every 2nd node
6 sides

60 degrees

7

Partition each arc into 7, draw to every 4th node
7 sides

doesn't have a nice number, draw each wedge at the same time

8

Partition each arc in Half, draw to every node
8 sides

45 degrees

9

Partition each arc into 9, draw to every 4th node
9 sides

40 degrees

10

Partition each arc into 5, draw to every 2nd node
10 sides

36 degrees

11

Partition each arc into 11, draw to every 4th node
11 sides

doesn't have a nice number, draw each wedge at the same time

12

Partition each arc into 3, draw to every node
12 sides

30 degrees

 

Once you have your kaleidoscope base done, you can draw just about anything inside.

What's next for me? After I have a few months of rest from sewing my current kaleidoscope quilt, I might try something with more fussy cutting and adventurous fabrics. I was thinking of trying a pentagon project. Blocks like this in a layout like that... But that's only if I'm daring enough and my Y-seams lay flat in my current project:

pentagon    pentagon

 

THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! Thank you for doing the lessons. Thank you for doing the mystery. Thank you for buying the Kaleidoscope Collection CD. Thank you for trusting me as I led you on this kaleidoscope adventure. I had a blast and I hope you did too.

Keep me updated on your projects that you use my kaleidoscope blocks in. I'd love to blog about your sewing escapades. Send me stories and pictures to webmaster@electricquilt.com. Let me know if your mystery quilt wins any awards at a quilt show. I feel like a great, great, great grandma watching all my babies reproduce all over the place seeing them all grow up and go lead lives of their own.

I hope you had fun. I am so proud of you for making it this far.

Sincerely,
Andrea Bishop

 

Kaleidoscope Quilt Gallery

Finish your quilt top and send me a picture! Email it to: webmaster@electricquilt.com


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