The Flowering Snowball Quilt block is a traditional block and quite possibly one of my favorite quilt designs. It is one of those blocks where size, print, and color placement can really affect the design. The potential to change the design by the placement of fabric and the use of color is limited only by imagination.
I spent some time playing with the overall quilt design using EQ7 (quilt design software), playing with color and in particular adding subtle variation in the background circles. I have used two background fabrics to create the circles: Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White and Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun in Natural.
Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun fabric is lightly textured fabric and has a natural linen look about it. It was lovely to piece with. My Flowering Snowball blocks are small (6 inch finished blocks), and the fabric pieces are smaller still. The seams are short and the curves are tight, and although the fabrics varied slightly in weight they all worked so well together.
Once I was happy with the quilt design I printed out the layout and worked out the blocks required. That is, the combination of background fabrics for the units of each block, and how to best sew the blocks together and press the seams so that all the seams would nest when pieced together.
If you stop by here regularly you may already know that I am not a pinner, and this quilt was pieced entirely without using a single pin. I have written a tutorial here which shows you how I sew curves without pinning, and this same technique has worked for this block. I do however like to nest my seams and I was able to nest all seams by pressing the seams for all blocks in exactly the same way. I did not clip any of the curved seam allowances and with a warm and gentle steam iron the blocks pressed up very nicely.
QUILT STATS
Berry Marmalade - A Flowering Snowball Quilt
Quilt top measures 48 inches x 48 inches.
A total of 64 Flowering Snowball Blocks.
(8 rows of 8 blocks).
Each finished block measures 6 inches x 6 inches.
576 patchwork pieces.
That tiny black center square measures 1/2" x 1/2".
Background Fabrics:
Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White
Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Homespun
Templates:
Templates:
6" Acrylic Flowering Snowball Templates from Sunset Seams (Etsy).
Now ready for basting and quilting.
Thank you for stopping by,
Rita
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