Wednesday, March 5, 2025

A Kaleidoscope Top

Put on your sunglasses!
It's a top!
Kaleidoscope
40 x 56


I started making these blocks in 2024 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project. I didn't have many small yellow scraps or even much yardage that was yellow. What I did have was quite a few yellow "chunks" - pieces less than a FQ but greater than a 6 inch square. I decided to use them as background for a kaleidoscope quilt. I figured there would be enough for a child sized quilt. 

Last year I ended up making twenty-two 8 inch blocks. 
This week I pulled out a little pile of multicolor 4.5 inch width scraps I had set aside for kid's quilts  and those yellow chunks and made 13 more blocks...  

...And then I put them together into a top. 

And now I have emptied a bag. 

WITB (What's in the Box, Bin, Bag) is the theme in my sewing space for the month of March. I'm wondering how many boxes, bins and bags I can empty.  

I'm keeping score:

Boxes:
1- Coins

Bags:
1 - Kaleidoscope

I'll also be working with yellow scraps this month because that is the March Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) color. 

And I don't always follow the challenges issued by the Scrapbuster group but this month the challenge is 1.5 inch scraps. I have some of those! 

And sew on...


***
REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)


Many many years ago I bought the book To Our Children's Children. Remembering Family Histories for Generations to Come. by Bob Greene  for both my Dad and John's parents hoping they would write about some of the prompts in the book. No one ever did. When John's parents passed away I got back their copy of the book and have always been meaning to do some prompt answering myself and put them in a journal. 

To Our Children’s Children

The House of Your Growing Up

1.      What did your home look like? Was it a house or apartment? What color was it? Was it stone or wood? One story or two?

I was in third grade, the eldest of five kids, when we moved to the house I grew up in. It was a white wood two story located on a very busy one-way street. A big backyard with a sidewalk lead to the garage and there was an alley behind the garage. We were separated by lilac bushes and peonies from the quiet elderly neighbors on the west side and separated by a chain link fence from the nosey and very cranky old lady we called Nosey Agnes on the east side. We had two big elm trees in the front boulevard until they had to be cut down due to Dutch Elm disease.

2.      Can you remember the view out of any of your windows? What did you look out on?

We really didn’t have a “view”. The front of the house looked out on to a busy one-way street. Across the street on the corner was the Salvation Army in a building that used to be a movie theater. The rest of the block was houses. The windows in back looked out on the backyard and alley and the houses across the alley. I already mentioned the neighbors next to us. 

* I remember the address of the old house and found a photo online of how it looked a few years ago which is pretty much how it looked when I lived there. I also saw that the house was built in 1920.
 


11 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I do remember the house I grew up in well - I started 4th grade the year we moved from town to country so it was a big adjustment - but one I loved for the most part.

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

What a bright happy quilt!! and way to go on the *Empties*
Your house story is fun - I wonder why Nosey Agnes was so nosey haha. We went back to see the house I grew up in and it was a lot smaller than what I remembered in my head.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

We had the big elm trees along our driveway and cottonwood near my house. When I went back years later to look at the house all of the big trees were gone. And then.... the house was gone too and a subdivision on all of that beautiful black farm soil.

JCH said...

I loved our house. We lived across from a golf course with huge hills. Used to toboggan in winter. Our drive had a tall cedar hedge all along with lily of the valley under it. I used to lie down in the flowers to enjoy the scent. I also had a crabby neighbor who used to yell at us if we were on the sidewalk in front of her house. Lol. Good times!

Nann said...

The kaleidoscope blocks are so colorful! I remember both my growing-up houses very well. And we're going to my home town today (an appointment) so I may seen that house again.

Jenny said...

Your quilt top is so pretty with the yellow background fabrics. Thank you for sharing your childhood house memories.

Linda Swanekamp said...

What a great story! I love kaleidoscopes and yours is so sunny!

Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting said...

Be still my heart! That is one gorgeous quilt! It is a wonderful idea to write down memories for the next generation. I often ask my parents about their childhood . Have a blessed day. Hugs.

Pat at Bell Creek Quilts said...

This one is so happy! It will brighten everyone's days! :)

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Kaleidoscope is a beauty, Cathy! The yellow makes it bright and happy. I loved reading about the house you grew up in, too. I'm so glad you're working on this journal about your life - one day your kids will really appreciate it!

Sara said...

Seeing your childhood home sure triggers memories. And the journal is a great idea. I love how those yellows work as a background with the other bright colors.