Hello! It’s me, Tina Curtis from Tina1802 again back to talk about some of my favorite Riley Blake Solids! Let’s turn the solids into a modern version of one of my favorite traditional blocks, the flowering snowball.
This year I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my twin sister Gloria’s wedding, and this quilt was born sort of from her wedding inspiration and also from some of my favorite colors. Her wedding incorporated baby’s breath, soft white and cream roses, a stark blue and white of Ginger Jars, and the various shades of greenery.
So I picked all the soft and cool toned blues, various shades of green, several tones of cream and white, and then a cobalt blue to really pop against the more muted colors.
The Riley Blake Confetti Cotton colors I used are:
-Bleached Denim -Boy Blue -Cloud -Moss -Lodge Pole -Alpine -Hint of Mint -Caribbean -Cornflower -Dream -Songbird -Leaf -Sweet Pea -Grass -Pearl -Latte -Pewter -Sweet Mint -Vintage White -Light Grey -Cobalt
I was inspired to make a Flowering Snowball Quilt by my friend Tricia Young who has something I do not possess, patience. She cuts all of her blocks by hand but I don’t have time for that! So I used AccuQuilts Flowering Snowball Die to cut out all my pieces.
I will recommend that you prewash, iron, and starch your fabric before you run it through the AccuQuilt dies. I obviously could have done a bit better job with the pressing of the green fabric above but it is prewashed as is my preference. I do LOVE the way these confetti cotton solids feel after they are prewashed. The hand is very soft and cuddly.
One of the things I did to try to make the Flowering Snowball block appear more modern, was the continue the colors into the setting squares of the blocks. I really loved the way this make the “orange peel” blocks float out of the quilt and become the focal point.
The next choices that’s hard with modern quilting for me, is the choice of quilting. I want the fabric and design to shine, and the quilting to compliment but not overwhelm it. I took out about 12 spools of Aurifil Thread and picked a light cool grey that blended well into most colors.
This quilting in every other block, made for a great density of quilting in my opinion. What it also left me with is several hundred threads to bury- but thanks to my friend Marisa- she buried them so quickly!
At the end of the project this was a beautiful quilt that shined brightly with the Riley Blake Confetti Cotton.
If you’d like to follow my process of see more videos of the journey of making this quilt, check out my Instagram @tina1802 for more fun modern quilting projects.
Happy Sewing!
Tina