The Patchwork Auditions blocks are so much fun. Have you tried this little game I'm playing? Today I show you the final block in the series. The series looks at some classic blocks and exposes alternate colorings. My goal is to simply think about other ways to color a quilt block I have looked at hundreds of times. I've been making 3 of each block - 1 traditional coloring and 2 alternates. It's fun to see how different they look! Take a look at all the blocks I've explored here.
With each block, I've been providing a cutting list for the basic blocks in 12" and 16" finished blocks, but not a tutorial. Use the coloring sheet to generate your own ideas. I hope that you have been enjoying this series as much as I am. Soon, I'll show you how I plan to lay all these blocks out in a mega-quilt.
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Snowball (Traditional)
The snowball block is a stitch-n-flip favorite. The layout shown below actually shows 4 snowball blocks sewn together. This is a common layout throughout history. I found this basic block construction listed under many names - which is why I decided to break this block down to it's fundamental unit. The snowball. You can make an entire quilt just of individual snowballs, or group them together like I have in the block below.
Block Structure
This block is constructed with (4) equal "snowballs". Each "snowball" consists of a center portion "A" that begins as a square. The "B" triangles are formed from squares that are stitched on the diagonal, and then pressed open (trimming the excess). See tutorial here.
Cutting List. I have listed cuts for both 12" and 16" blocks.
For 12" blocks.
- Cut (4) 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" squares. (A)
- Cut (16) 2 7/8" x 2 7/8" squares. (B)
For 16" blocks.
- Cut (4) 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" squares. (A)
- Cut (16) 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares. (B)
This is a fun and simple block to recolor. There are several ways to change it's look, and still the cutting stays pretty simple. These are just a few of the options I found.
My Sample Blocks
traditional Snowball(12" block)
letter E in the table above (16" block)
letter D in the table above (16" block)
Feel free to share any past or present Snowball blocks you've made with us to show how you colored it using #patchworkauditions #snowballblock. Enjoy!