Ring of Fire Snowball

I was "doodling" with fabric the other night as a ploy to avoid doing the dishes. Sitting at my sewing table, I had a pile of scraps from a recently completed quilt spread around.  I wasn't really trying to work them into something or use them up, I was doodling, much like I do with pencil and paper when searching for just the right look to an idea.

Next to me, on the table, was a copy of a pattern that I had printed off from Wombat Quilts, a blog that belongs to Cath Hall.  She'd created a snowball pattern and posted it on Wombat Quilts for all to share.  Her version of the block as done in pink and gray, and while pretty enough, wasn't what my brain said I wanted. (I've used the pink/gray color inspiration for a baby quilt that's due in April.)

Yes, I used Cath's pattern for my own block but with an added element.  Back in November, 2013 I attended a local class taught by Jerry Fujimoto and he shared with us a technique for adding ultra thin strips to a quilting block.  I've been saving 1" strips towards using them for just this purpose.  When creating Cath's snowball, I seized the opportunity to add a bright narrow stripe to the otherwise dark colors in my snowball.  Here's the way I did it.

I added a additional 1/4" sewing line in between sections 3 and 4 but didn't change the size of section 3.  This kept the finished size of the block at 12".  When sewing the line between the added strip and section #4, I lined up my 1/4" foot as if to sew on that line, then swapped out the 1/4" foot for my clear acrylic open toe foot and adjusted my needle drop as far to the left as I could without the needle striking the foot. I sewed the line and was rewarded with a narrow strip of orange/red that measured slightly less than 3/8".  

I really like the impact this tiny stripe makes to the overall block.  Here's the block completed.

I'm calling this block Ring of Fire Snowball. Now I needed to figure out what to do with the block.

As a member of the River City Quilt Guild I'm part of the Quilting for Vets group which is making small quilts for the armed forces veterans at the VA Northern California Health Care System at Mather Air Field. I decided to use this improvised snowball pattern for a medallion quilt for this group. By adding borders of several designs, the medallion has grown from 12" square to almost 40" square.  I'll be adding more borders to take it up to about 50" which should be a good size for a lap quilt.

Thank you, Cath Hall, for your generosity!  I had a ball making this block and follow your adventures in paper piecing regularly.

Peace,

Sue