Glowing Flowering Snowball

I’m so excited to finally get to share this project with you! I shared photos of my original block way back in August, and I have finally gotten around to editing the video tutorial. Editing video is challenging to me, so I put it off – sometimes for 3 months! Luckily, it all came together last night. I’m very proud of my Glowing Flowering Snowball block – you know I love to take a hard thing and make it harder, and I did!

My inspiration came from the Flowering Snowball Block on Board die from AccuQuilt. I have coveted that die for years. A fellow AccuQuilt Go Getter shared a project back in August and reminded me how much I wanted it. I put on my thinking cap, loaded up Electric Quilt 8 and got to work. I wanted to combine the flowering snowball block with something made with the 8″ Qube. Since the Flowering Snowball finishes at 12″, I thought the three sections on each side might be even, and I was able to confirm that in EQ8. So, I got started with some sketches.

First draft – interesting. I love the combination of the V block and the curved petal, to make this pointy flower shape. Nice, but a little boring. The color palette is pretty plain, too. I wanted to remove the partial units and get a cleaner layout.

Next try – Better, but too much negative space. It feels like quilting might be a burden. Raspberry is my favorite color right now, and I do like this. It may get revisited in the future. Maybe push the units apart a bit, but keep the shapes. Let’s put a pin in this one.

Third time – getting warmer. Putting the blocks on point is really interesting. Of course, now I need setting triangles, and I don’t think AccuQuilt makes a 12″ setting triangle, which means math. Blah. I’m not sure what I was up to with those two blue triangles up top, but I moved on.

Fourth time, and now I’ve got it. Obviously, this is a big jump, and I can’t tell you exactly how I got here. I got rid of the negative space, added a third color, and filled in the setting triangles with smaller pieces, so I don’t need any more dies. I love when I come up with something fun that uses what I already have. And I seriously love everything about this piece.

I sent this design off to AccuQuilt. They approved, and sent me the Flowering Snowball die for a Christmas themed release (which means this month.) I made a test block to test my idea with a flange inside of the curves, and recorded a tutorial so you, too, can make an extra challenging version of the Flowering Snowball block. I call it the Glowing Flowering Snowball.

Special thanks to my Mom, who gave me long-distance input on this project and said the shape looked like poinsettias. AccuQuilt agreed, which is why the version you will see in the next few weeks is red, white and green.

Here is the video tutorial, where I totally skip cutting the pieces or mentioning what you need to make a block. If you have the die, instructions are on the package. If you want to make a Christmas quilt, there is a more detailed pattern-style tutorial coming soon on the AccuQuilt website. I’ll do another post with that version when it releases with AccuQuilt.

Considering buying the die? You can get it here, and I will make a small commission. There are all kinds of wild sales going on this month. Black Friday is a great time to order any dies you are considering.

If EQ8 is on your wish list, now is a great time to buy it. Use code EVERYTHING and get 25% off. They have great block libraries that work with BOBs and Qubes.

Have a great holiday weekend!