Reimagining the snowball block with vintage linens

The snowball block is a very effective and easy block to make. It needs four small squares sewn on the diagonal on each of the four corners of a square. The squares are then pressed over along the diagonal to form triangles.

The first thing I want to know about the snowball block is how big do you need to make the corner squares. i like a snowball block which turns into a regular octagon, so I want the diagonal of the square to equal the edge that is left along the top and sides. Then I want to make sure I can get the same shape no matter what size I make the snowball. That required a bit of math, but I’ve made myself a handy table for typical block sizes and I have summarised the math to work it out and add seam allowances for odd sizes.

Then I decided to design a quilt with different sized snowballs just to see what would happen. So I have 12 inch, 6 inch and 4 inch snowballs in my plan. I liked the way four snowballs together make a four petalled flower.

I’ve been saving vintage doilies from op shops for a few years. (Op shops are called charity shops in the UK, I’m not sure what they are called in the US, but, you know what what I mean, second hand shops like Vinnies or the Salvos. In Australia they are called Opportunity shops or Op Shops). Some of the doilies are so nice I don’t want to cut them up. I feel bad about the beautiful embroidery done by our grandmothers and great grandmothers ending up in landfill and I really wanted to show them off and give them new life. So, what I decided to do is use them as the centre of each snowball block.

This was so much fun. Some of the doilies are beautifully embroidered, some are less technically perfect but have great vibrance and joy. The edges are carefully edged and crocheted. Each one has it’s own beauty and story. I used a soft grey blue lavender to contrast with the crochet edgings and keep the doilies white. I appliqued them on, around the hem stitching then held down the crochet with a fine thread.

I used a flower print for the 6 inch blocks and the little 4 inch blocks in the borders. Now the background is darker than what I wanted, but it was what I could get given border closures due to COVID. I thought it would be a good background to show off some fairly heavy machine quilting. This is still to come.

To do the half and quarter snowballs, I worked out how big to make the squares so I could just slice through and get two half snowballs with all the correct seam allowances. This meant some of my snowballs had big and little squares. It needed planning, but was easy to do. I then used some of my damaged doilies where maybe there was a tea stain on the other half of the doily.

I put corner stones in my sashing which makes the squares float on the background. It’s been a fun project and I’m looking forward to quilting it.