Hi friends!
Today as part of our Exploring the Basics series, Tammy and I are sharing about our recent block challenge: to remix and reimagine the Arkansas Snowflake quilt block!
The Arkansas Snowflake quilt block
The Arkansas Snowflake quilt block is a mix of a center quarter square triangle unit (QST) and Peaky and Spike units.
It’s a basic 9 patch grid with 4 Peaky and Spike units, 1 center QST unit and 4 corner squares.
Need to know more about QST and Peaky and Spike units? Click here for the blog post on QST units.
And here for the blog post on Peaky and Spike!
The Remix – color
For color, I am using more fabrics from the Contempo line from Island Batik.
This is such a great collection of bright, fun bold batiks; check out my blog post about the line here.
I decided to keep the color story simple and stick with a 2 color block; well, 2 colors and a background. So I guess that really makes it a 3 color block!
The Remix – the block
For my remixed block, I wanted to keep the Peaky and Spike units but add a twist somehow.
So that is what I did! I twisted or, I guess, rotated them.
I love how the original unit looked when mixed with the sides of the QST, so I decided to add partial QST units to the corners of the blocks to create the same shape.
Kind of looks like a gem.
Then I decided to keep the center QST unit but make it smaller to add some negative space to the center of the block.
And then, I stitched and flipped some squares in the 4 corners to give the block another secondary design when sewn in rows.
Ta-done! A block!
The Arkansas Snowflake quilt block Quilt
For the quilt, I wanted a small quilt as a wall hanging and so I made 9 blocks and rotated some of them.
The quilt top is done – yay! – but it needs to be quilted. I did not add any borders wanting to give this one a more modern look.
I plan to add the deep orange/red fabric as the binding. And as always, the quilts are named after the tree for the month so this one is called Elm.
So.. do you like it? Should I tun this one into a pattern?
A Bonus Mini Quilt!
When I stitched and flipped the squares in the corner, I saved the leftover triangles to make HST units.
And then laid them out, playing around with the order of the units…
Then sewed them together….
Quilted it, added piped binding and ta-da! I made a cute little mini quilt!
Now be sure to head on over to Tammy’s blog post to see her remixed Arkansas Snowflake quilt block; she always creates a unique new block!
happy quilting!
Kate