Today the Fat Quarter Shop is releasing a free shortcut quilt pattern, Fat Quarter Snowballs, and a kit featuring Wintertide fabric by Janet Clare. I made my version of Fat Quarter Snowballs from Kate Spain’s Bungalow fabric line, plus a few additional yellow prints from Fig Tree and Company. I love the luscious tropical punch of these pineapple fabrics!

The snowball and square-in-a-square blocks showcase my favorite pineapple prints from the Bungalow line. Does anyone else see owls in the ikat print (upper right)? If I flip the fabric upside down, it looks like a floral motif, but I prefer owls so I carefully laid out my blocks on the design wall, ensuring all blocks were owl-like.

Quilt Construction

The entire quilt is made from two blocks: snowball and square-in-a-square. To speed up construction, I used Doug Leko’s Simple Folded Corners ruler to trim corners and eliminate the need to draw diagonal lines on each small square of fabric. Check out the Fat Quarter Shop Youtube videos to learn how to use this great tool.

• Fat Quarter Snowballs Quilt tutorial (Kimberly demonstrates both block methods.)
• Simple Folded Corners Ruler tutorial with Doug Leko

As you can see below, I set up my assembly line sewing with a cutting mat next to my sewing machine. The trimming method turned out to be much more accurate than drawing lines and then trimming the excess fabric. To my amazement, I didn’t “lose” one single point in my square-in-a-square blocks.

Since I chose so many directional prints, I was afraid I’d accidentally shift my blocks during construction. (Actually, I did make a few such mistakes when constructing my Off-Road Jeep Adventure Quilt.) So I decided to stitch four blocks together to make larger units and then stitch the rows together. The process seemed to work because I caught two mistakes before I was too far along in the construction process. Happily, all my prints ended upright. I was also able to press my seams so that they nested at block intersections.

Here’s how the four-block units looked on my design wall. Note that the final row is made up of two-block units. I stitched columns together and then the rows, carefully pressing seams to alternate directions so that the block intersections easily came together.

I stitched up the lap quilt top in just a few days, which is my kind of project—instant gratification! Next week I plan to quilt this myself with a simple crosshatch pattern. If you’d like to learn why I like pineapples, read my post: Pineapple: The Symbol of Hospitality.

Fat Quarter Snowballs Quilt Details

You can find more information and links to other bloggers who made a Fat Quarter Snowballs Quilt at the Fat Quarter Shop’s blog, The Jolly Jabber. I love the Fat Quarter Shop quilt-alongs because everyone’s unique fabric choices are so inspiring, showing how one free pattern can look strikingly different.

If you want to see more Fat Quarter Shop quilts and projects that I’ve enjoyed, click on these links.

• Jolly Braid Tote Bag
• Hunter’s Star
• Wild Geese Straight Furrows
• Double 9-Patch
• Lady of the Lake
• Jelly Roll Twist

Joyfully,

Tracie

I’m linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Sherry at Powered by Quilting, Beth at Cooking Up Quilts, and Patty at One Monthly Goal.