Hello, I’m Sue
and welcome to my stop on the Cloud 9 New Block Blog Hop. If this is your first
visit please feel free to look around.
This is the
block. It's 12" square finished.
I adapted it from a snowflake design on the pyjamas I was wearing on the
night the chance of joining this hop was offered to the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers
Facebook group. Just as well inspiration struck so early otherwise I may have
had a sleepless night or 30…
This is my first
ever tutorial, hope it’s clear. If not, let me know, I’ll treat it as
constructive criticism, I promise.
SNOWFLAKE SWIRL BLOCK
This block
construction is a hybrid between regular piecing and paper foundation piecing. Really,
it is mostly a guide to keep everything lined up and if you’ve never done paper
piecing before it is a super easy way to start. To make this block you’ll need
4 copies of the piecing template here (please excuse the fact that it is hand-drawn, I couldn't get the circular effect without drawing it). Print it off with page scaling
on your printer settings at NONE.
I’ve been
generous with the cutting. I like plenty of room to manoeuvre with this
technique.
I’ll be pressing
all seams as I go, you have my permission to do what you usually do in regards
to pressing.
When paper
piecing use a smaller stitch length than usual to make it easier to remove the
paper at the end. I set mine at 1.6.
If you have
never tried foundation piecing there are many tutorials available on the web in
the format of your choice.
CUTTING INSTRUCTIONS
Cut 4 x 7 ½” squares
from the background fabric (Shadow), then cut on the diagonal to yield 8 HSTs.
BLOCK A
Cut a 8 ½”
x 5 ½" piece light blue fabric
(Sky)
Cut a 8 ½”
x 1” piece dark blue fabric (Amazon)
Cut a 8 ½”
x ¾ ” and a 8 ½” x 4” piece background fabric (Shadow)
BLOCK B
Cut a 4 ½”
x 5 ½” piece lilac fabric (Lilac)
Cut a 4 ½”
x 1” piece purple fabric (Iris)
Cut a 4 ½”
x ¾ ” and a 4 ½” x 2” piece background fabric (Shadow)
BLOCK C
Cut a 2 ½”
x 10” piece lilac fabric (Lilac)
Cut 2 x 2 ½”
x 1” pieces purple fabric (Iris)
Cut 2 x 2 ½”
x ¾ ” and 2 x 2 ½” x 2” piece grey fabric (Shadow)
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
We’re going to
start by making the snowflake arms. Block A makes up the diagonal arms and Blocks
B and C make up the cross bar arms.
NOTE: you
will need to use a scant ¼” seam allowance when piecing the arms
BLOCK A
Sew the 8 ½” x 4"piece
background fabric to the 8 ½” x 1” piece
dark blue fabric and the 8 ½” x 5
½" piece light blue fabric to the 8 ½” x
¾” piece background fabric. Sew the two sections together (see diagram
below). Trim the side edges if required to tidy it up then cut into 4 x
approximately 2” strips.
BLOCK B
Sew the 4 ½” x 2”
piece background fabric to the 4 ½” x 10”
piece purple fabric and the 4 ½” x 5 ½” piece
lilac fabric to the 4 ½” x ¾” piece background
fabric. Sew the two sections together (see photo below). Trim the side edges if
required to tidy it up then cut into 2 x approximately 2” strips
BLOCK C
Sew the 2 ½” x ¾”
pieces background fabric to either end of the 2 ½” x 10” piece lilac fabric and the 2 ½” x 1” pieces purple fabric to the 2 ½” x 2” pieces background fabric. Sew the three
sections together (see photo below). Trim the side edges if required to tidy it
up.
TEMPLATE SECTIONS
Lay a hst on the
template, lining the diagonal edge from corner to corner.
Lay a Block A
strip along the diagonal edge lining up the marks on the template with the
seams along the strips. It doesn’t have to be accurate, they are a guide to
create a circular effect. Stitch along the seam line and press. Fold the
template back along the second seam line and trim a ¼” from the edge of the
paper.
Line the second
hst piece with the edge of the strip and stitch along the seam line. Press and
trim the block to the edge of the template.
PUTTING THE BLOCK TOGETHER
Lay the 4
sections out so the arms are swirling in a circular kind of way
Stitch a Block B
strip to two of the templates (one from the top, one from the bottom) using the
marks as a guide to line the seams on the strip up. Again they’re more of a
suggestion than an order. Press and trim the top and bottom edges then READ THE NEXT SECTION CAREFULLY. Trim
the strip ½” from the edge of the
template, yes that is half an inch
from the template edge not the seam
line.
Line the other
template sections up aligning the square edges and stitch along the seam line
Stitch the Block
C strip to the edge of one of your pieced sections, using the marks as a guide.
Press and trim the edges, then once again trim the strip ½” from the edge of the template. Line the two sections up and stitch
along the seam line. Press and trim.
Remove the paper
and admire
At this point I would like to say thankyou to Cloud 9 for giving us the opportunity to work with their fabrics and to hosts Yvonne, Cheryl and Stephanie for organising the hop.
Today’s section
of the hop is being hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist
Designs. There is
a big list of bloggers to visit today with no shortage of talent. Check them
out. And wait there's more! See the links for yesterday's stage of the hop here and tomorrow's here.
