granny_59

I would like to make a kalidoscope quilt with 8 x 8 blocks (64) and place the snake about in the middle, tip of tail and head on the border.
The pic is only half the planed one as I only wanted to try out how a snake would work. I imagine the top of the snake bright and pretty and the bottom somehow "ugly". I was thinking of destorting the blocks but dont have a clue how to do this on the computer.
Could someone please help?
Granny

with destorting the lower blocks I did not mean the single blocks but the whole part below the snake. Kind of like "pulling" at the lower left corner.........is this at least a little bit understandable?

MTS

I think this is a fabulous idea.

A-Why do you want to distort the blocks? Are you trying to manipulate the shape of the snake?

B- I noticed on some of the curves you didn't shade in the whole triangle...is that because, again, you're looking to control the shape of the snake?

As for B, I would piece it that way. IOW, if I wanted a particular section of the snake to be narrower than the block patches allow, I would piece the patches in the two colors before joining them together into the block.

So if you take your 8x8 block layout, draw the snake however you want, and then in those pieces where it's either narrower (or wider!), you would use more than one fabric on those triangles.

Does that make any sense?

Another option would be to piece it within the shapes, but after you could applique on additional pieces, or deal with it via thread embroidery before or after quilting.

What were you planning to use for the majority of the blocks? Where they real kaleidoscopes, or were they pieced in some way?

Reminds me of quilt (Storm At Sea) where the designer, Sarah Vedeler. started with a patch drawing like you have, but then colored her design according to the patches, not the block. It was stunning. I think you need to be a member of TQS to see it but here's a link:
http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/quilt...lts_id/1002977

granny_59

I did not color nicely, only wanted to try whether it would be possible to go by the pp kaleidoscope block from quilterscache to make the shape of a snake. I would also color by patch not by block and therefore it would not be a problem if the lower part is out of shape - the snake has to stay the way it is right now.
My idea is somehow paradies before and after the snake.....
DH has this thing on his handy where you can load a picture and then pull with your finger a long nose or whatever. There must be some software one could do it to the calidoscope blocks also but I do not have a clue where and how

MTS

Well, EQ can "warp" a block, for lack of a better word. But in order for it to match up to the rest of the blocks, and to keep it relatively simple, you'd still end up with a 8" block (or whatever you started with). Just the pieces within the block would be off-center.

I think the snake shape looks great as you have it. Some thread work for texture and eyes, and it would scare the bejeezus out of me. ;-)

I think it's a great idea.

What are paradies?

granny_59

the paradise.........adam, eve, the snake :oops:

Do I understand this right: if I would set up in EQ 64 blocks, draw the snake somewhere in the middle, I could not deform the whole part below the snake at once? Only block by block? I kind of want it to look fallen apart.
I have all the pics in my head but no word to express myself

MTS

Your words are fine. And now I get the whole Adam, Eve, Paradise, snake vision. ;)

I found this from the other day. Penny suggest using the custom set.
http://doyoueq.com/phpBB3/viewtopic....ch+block#p5384

I think it would a PITA to draw out all 64 blocks, but you might have to. I would probably design and print out the top 4x8 grid the normal way, and then do the bottom 4x8 in the custom set.

I'm trying to understand the "fallen apart" concept.

Do you want black spaces in place of some of the triangles, or do you want the triangles to be sort of separating from the other triangles in the same block and the blocks from other blocks? Sort of helter skelter?

But in the end, no matter what you did on the bottom, you still want the same width as the top? Or do you want it totally free form at the bottom?

granny_59

thank you so much for your help!
I dont want to buy EQ as I am sure that I could not handle it :oops:
No black spaces and not the triangles coming apart, more like pulling the triangles out of shape. As there are programs to distort pictures I could maybe make a picture and load it into such a program and then print it out. Figuring out the piecing will be another problem but why dealing with it before I have someting to print out :lol:
the size has to stay the same but the blocks can vary
It is just that I am the biggest computer dummy around and of course my children dont have time for stuff like this!?
Granny

cjsparks

This is just a thought and a whole different way to approach. What if you cut the snake fabric out on the bias? Create your pieced base/background. Appliqued the snake on top of the background. The bias will let you ease around the curves.

cjsparks

OMG someone has snake skin fabric FS on Trade/Sell section.

MTS

I'm sure Corel or one of the graphics programs could do it.


But here's my questions because I really want to understand this:

If you're going to have "distorted" blocks on the bottom, won't you still want the triangle edge points to still match up to the neighboring blocks?

So here are some Kaleidoscope blocks created using the custom set of EQ.

See how the first 2 blocks on the first row, with different widths, still match up side to side, so the color flows smoothly. When you get to the 2nd row, see how those blocks don't match up to the blocks in the first row.

So it's kind of hard to distort each block differently (unless you get into curved edges) and still have the pattern go across the quilt top fluidly.