Monday 23 June 2014

flowering snowball quilt a long

Remember this blast from the past?
This is a flowering snowball pattern
one that I first spied over at my pal Marys blog
 Well now Mary is having a little flowering snowball quilt a long
and has asked me to share my epp technique.
 I'm rubbish on the machine 
which is why I prefer to hand sew.
And its because of that reason why I like big templates.
Less fuss and quicker to sew!
However if you want to learn how to sew curves with your machine
hop on over to MollyFlanders
she'll see you right!
BIG!
 I used printouts from Marys blog.
To begin with
I scaled up each of the templates to the size I wanted.
For the main template I drew round the printout four times
and stuck them together to make the shape below.
For the other I did the same but just used it twice.
I've drawn lines on my cardboard templates so you understand?
 Tacking down the first piece to its paper template.
When you begin sewing the curves,
I found it helpful to pin the two templates together
at the end and in the middle so you end up with equal amounts of fabric
when you finish.
If you dont do this you could end up over shooting 
which wouldnt work at all!!
 One block.
A few more.
 Finished piecing minus the background and filler squares.
I left the edge papers in place so I could applique
to the back piece.
I cut the excess backing fabric away after
so I could remove the papers.
 Appliquing the top to a polka dot background.
 Finally deciding what colour to fill those holes in.
My first fmq attempt. 
And we're done!
For my tutorial on the basics of english paper piecing click here.
For more pictures of my finished flowering snowball click here.
For Marys flowering snowball quilt a long click here.
I chose to make my quilt in subtle colours
which made a change from the riot of combinations
I had previously used.
*The main fabrics are from sweetwater.

11 comments:

  1. Your quilt is absolutely wonderful!! I love the light airy colours you have used. Thanks for showing us how you put it together.

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  2. Maybe I've just become lazy with modern technology, but that seems like a lot of work. It looks great, though. I am curious, how long did it take you to sew the top, and how big is it?

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  3. It's just stunning.Thanks for rhe tips.Have a great week!

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  4. Beautiful! What an heirloom!

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  5. Oh my, that is one beautiful quilt. I to like hand piecing my quilts, even though due to having to work (grrrr) I have had to use the sewing machine, I am hoping to EPP my Flowering Snowball. Once again your quilt is beautiful :)

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  6. It's beautiful Clare! I love the pop of turquoisey blue against the lovely pale neutrals, just wonderful! Is that machine quilted? It looks amazing. I would love to have a go at that type of quilting but not sure how to go about it - any tips? Or maybe an idea there for your next tutorial?!!!!
    Thanks for sharing your beautiful quilt!
    Gill xx

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  7. That's a really classy quilt!

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  8. Love how your Flowering Snowball quilt turned out. Thank your for sharing your process.

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  9. Just gorgeous! I love the pop of aqua.

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Clare x