Hive #7 for June - Flowering Snowball

A big hello to Hive #7.  You are a wonderful group of which I am thrilled to be a part of!

My name is Deana and I'm from a little town in Utah.  You can find my blog at Dreamworthy Quilts.  I am a mother of 3 and a teacher.  My daughter just got married May 29th, so I drafted this tutorial in April to avoid any extra chaos.

Like many of you, I am always juggling several projects at once;  perhaps it keeps me more interested.  My passion is designing quilts.  I just finished creating the Quilter's Garden Mystery Row Quilt and have thoroughly enjoyed the fabulous group of ladies who signed up to swap with me.  

I also just completed my last tutorial for the Shimmer Braid QAL.  I released the final FREE tutorial in May.

My question for you is this:  "Who got you hooked on quilting?"  For me, it was my mother-in-law.  My mother made many many quilts but my mother-in-law introduced me to the rotary cutter and 1/4" seams and many wonderful tricks of the trade.

Now lets get down to business.  I am asking Hive #7 to make Flowering Snowball Blocks for me in June. If you are freaking out about the curves, please keep reading because I have a different option for you.  

I was surfing the web one day where I found this quilt made by Cindy at Hyacinth Quilt Designs.  Please check out her blog for more photos of this beautiful quilt.  I fell in love.  I debated about doing curved piecing or applique' but have settled on curves.  I am asking you to give it a try.  The curves are gentle, just pin a lot and go slow when you sew.

I also love this one made by Nifty Quilts at Nifty Quilts Blog. Please go to her blog and see her entire post with magnificant photos of the process.

Non-Piecing Option:

I think many of you will be fine sewing curves, but for those who really feel that attempting curves is beyond your ability, I am asking you to just send me fabric pieces all cut out for two blocks instead.  I hope you feel that is a fair trade for a non-sewing project.  I love quilts with lots of different fabrics in them and that is why I joined the Stashbee.  I will happily sew them up for you and post a picture.  Honestly, the cutting is a little slow, so you will be saving me time as well as contributing to my fabric variety.


Background fabric - Please use a low volume print.  I love the ones in this photo below.  Please use four different prints in the block.  They can be white or off-white but must look predominantly white/off-white.  You can add in some white on white or cream on cream if you don't have enough Low Volume Prints.  Note:  the photo below is just to show the low volume fabric.  The pieces are in reverse order for color (white where low volume should be), so don't make the blocks like this one.

What is a low volume print?  Click here to find out.  The link also shows a photo of great low volume prints.

 Center Square:
Please use a black or extremely dark fabric if you don't have black.  Something that will look almost black in tone is fine.  

Main Colors:

Below is a picture of my fabric pull for this project.  They are mostly leftovers from my Quilter's Garden quilt shown at the top of this post.  Brown, salmon (not pink - think a cross between pink and orange), green, blue, orange, red. Yellow is a good choice too although I didn't pull any. Think whimsical or modern fabrics when you are selecting them.  I love both.  I prefer bright colors - medium to dark - not anything too pastel.  They need to show up next to the low volume prints and I like brighter colors and dislike pale pastels.

This is what one of my blocks looks like by itself:

Here are four blocks I made:

Printing the templates:

Click the link below to access the templates.  You MUST PRINT THEM WITH NO SCALING or they will be the wrong size.  That means to uncheck the box that says "fit to page" at the bottom of the print screen.

Measure the 1" square on the template.  If it is not 1" square, you must reprint it to the proper scale.  Please email me if you have problems or questions.

Template post on Molly Flander's Blog with cutting tutorial

Templates on Molly Flander's Blog

Cutting:

It is best to cut these blocks out with scissors.  I tried the rotary cutter first and found scissors to be faster and easier.  If I were to purchase plexiglass templates I would use a small rotary cutter, but for one block just use scissors and the templates out of paper. 

Simply pin the pattern pieces to the fabric.  Make sure the grain lines are in the proper place.  I like to place the straight edge of the pattern on a straight edge of the fabric to save time.

See pictures below to show grain lines:

Sewing:

Tutorial on Molly Flander's blog

I like Donna Poster's youtube video for sewing curves.  Pay particular attention to how she puts the corners together at the two ends.  I pin both ends first, aligning the corners as she does, and then fill in with pins in-between.  I do add more pins than Donna or Molly Flanders.  It is just easier and more accurate.

Thanks so much ladies!!!!