This is actually last month’s BOW flower block... it just came very late in the month! My new flower is Snowrose – a soft, delicate bloom that feels like it has just pushed its way through the chill of winter (hence its name). There’s something quietly elegant about this design with its gentle movement and leaves that cradle the flower rather than compete with it.
As always, I begin my blocks on the computer, sketching and refining the shapes until I’m happy with the balance between petals and foliage. From there, the design moves into fabric – and that’s where the real fun begins.
Fabric selection.... keep it soft or make it bold? That is the question. The fabric choice can completely change the mood of the block, and as the artists, we have a license to be creative regardless of what the 'real' flower looks like.
You might choose:
- Soft creams, blush pinks, and muted greens for a delicate, romantic feel
- Crisp whites and cool greens for a fresh winter bloom
- Or rich jewel tones for something more dramatic and unexpected
As usual, I select fabrics for these flower blocks from my Hoffman Fabric watercolor fabrics. I chose two light and two dark greens for the leaves.
....And for the flowers, soft pinks. Then I looked at my Inktense paints and considered using my own painted fabric so I created some quick star-like pink shapes, and to my delight, the pink matched perfectly with the darker pink shade of fabric.
Note: I’ll be sharing more about painting fabric – including my simple approach and technique – in next week’s blog post, so keep an eye out for that.
This did bring up a bit of a challenge for me however..... simply because I was just playing. The issue was that my painted lines didn't align with the templates of the pattern I'd already drawn. I did get lucky some times, but other times not!
Of course, I could have changed the templates to match the painted areas.... but realistically, that would be time-consuming. A quick fix instead and an excuse to pull the paints out again was to paint more, this time using the templates as a guide!
I didn't waste the originals either, I have the perfect place for them.... on my journal cover! More about that coming soon, too.
I made a small adjustment to the leaves from my usual method of stitching applique shapes. Instead of stitching twice around the outer edge of both fabrics, I only stitched around the top fabric once. The first stitching on the lower fabric was close to where the second stitching would be so I eliminated that stitching.
This subtle difference makes the leaves sit more naturally against the background without being overcrowded with stitches. Of course, you could just use one green with a fine blanket stitch of light stitching to create a similar effect.
This Snowrose is one of those flowers that can quietly steal the show in a quilt layout. I can definitely imagine using it around the border of a quilt.... it surely offers beautiful versatility. You can find the pattern available here: Snowrose block
Now that the pattern is available, I’d love to see your Snowrose blocks taking shape. Are you going soft and subtle… or bold and dramatic?
