Can anyone tell me the difference between the two? I want to do a quilt using one of these methods but I don't want to have to take a class.

Stack and Whack - if you need 6 triangles to make your kaleidoscope piece you will need 6 pieces of exactly the same fabric. That means 6 complete repeats of the fabric. Then you lay them on top of one another - perfectly registering the design top to bottom. When you cut your triangle you have 6 pieced of identical fabric. These do not need to be a complete block however - here is a neat site with some examples

http://www.bethanyreynolds.com/what%27ssnw.html

http://www.bethanyreynolds.com/workshopsSnW.html


One block Wonder is just that a complete block - I looked at my book - it does the same thing as stack and whack - but suggest that you cut strips from selvage to selvage of fabric that has been perfectly matched and then cut out your 60 degree triangle from the strips. This will make one complete block when completed.

I think the results are the same - you create some sore of Kaleidoscope.

Thank you for the explanation Betty. Do you have any idea which method is less complicated? I'm trying to decide which book I should buy... Stack n Whack or One Block Wonders.

i'm not 100% sure about this but i think the main difference between a OBW and a "traditional" S&W is that:

most or all of the S&W hexagons will look the same. the results are more uniform and symetrical.

most of the OBW hexagons will look different to each other. the result is much more random in overall appearance. the "wonder" comes from the surprise of discovering all the different looks that come from the same fabric.

it has to do with how you stack the fabric sections and where you make your cuts.

i think.

I have both books and they are both worth having though I did lend my OBW book to my mom, she wants to try after being here playing with mine.

OBW is a type of S & W. They have the same block in the S&W book. The one block wonder uses the octagon or the hexagon, and have you do the whole quilt out of one fabric.

S&W has several different blocks in several different arrangements and to do the main pieces you use the one fabric, but they incorperate other things into it as well, it has the fan and a square as well as the hexagon and octagon, cut in the stack fashion.

Kalidescopes are done on the same sort of fashion, but are fussy cut to get certain aspects of the design of the fabric.

Both ways of laying out the fabric is easy. It is a personal choice.

good question ctquilter! I was wondering the same thing :lol:
cutebuns can you tell us the names of the books you have? thanx

I have the OBW Book - and it is an easy read. I actually had to go and read it before I answered the post as I had not done one - but from what I read it seems straight forward.

I have both the One Block Wonder Book, and Stack-n-Wack ipedia

Both books have pretty clear direction on what to do,

Not today, and not tomorrow, but I am planning on maybe doing a sew along with the OBW. They are a lot of fun. And I love doing them, you get totally different quilts with different prints, even if you used the same print and cut it a different size.

Thanks everyone for all your help.
I think I'll start with One Block Wonder, the pictures of obw's that have been posted here are beautiful!

cutebuns, a sew along sounds like fun. I've never participated in one but I would love to try whenever you're ready.

I am not sure when it will be ready, I have another mystery to do and a few tutorials as well that I have to put together, though I think the sew along will be the easiest as I plan to do it as we go along at the same time, there is a lot of interest in the OBW, and there is some that are hesitant to try it. I hope to help some get over it.