Snowflake Monday

When I designed my first Moda Blockhead snowflake for the center of a quilt block, I knew there would come a time (or two) (...or more) when a block would not be conducive to a snowflake. Didn't really expect that to happen on Week 2!

The BH2 Block 2 – Buckeye Beauty – is an attractive block, but it doesn't really have room for a snowflake, unless I make four tiny snowflakes with size 40 crochet thread. Believe me, I was tempted!!!


I even toyed with the idea of making four of the 6.5-inch blocks with the same color on all four center corners and then appliquéing the snowflake over the seams. I fantasized about making all the components except those four center corners, then drafting and cutting a seamless block of one fabric for the center, making this block totally mine.

This block looks incredible when four are put together, and it's even better as a whole quilt full of colorful blocks.

Today’s flashback quilt is my Jewel Box Quilt. This was made Circa 2004 and is a @quiltinaday pattern. Super fun and quick to make! Don’t you just love my backing? Made from a gradation type fabric. Makes it even more fun! Do you have a flashback Friday quilt to share? #flashbackfriday #jewelboxquilt #jackiekunkel #cantonvillagequiltworks #cvquiltworks #quiltsofinstagram #quiltersofinstagram #quilts #quiltinaday

A post shared by Jackie Kunkel/CVQuilt Works (@quilter623) on Mar 9, 2018 at 6:38am PST

However, one of the things I found most exciting about this year's Blockhead project is the varied block sizes, from 6.5 inches to 18 inches. Four 6.5-inch blocks would make a 12.5-inch block, and I don't want all the blocks to be 12.5 inches. I'd already be taking away a degree of the fun factor for me in just the second week. Plus, how awful a snowflake name would Buckeye be?!? YUCK!!!


Buck Eye... ha ha ha!!!
Long before the second Blockhead project kicked off, I'd dug out a couple of 12.5-inch blocks I thought I could throw into the mix in case there is a block I don't like. I expect that to happen eventually... I don't think I've ever liked EVERY block in EVERY sampler pattern I've undertaken.


The Dancing Diamonds block has been screaming out at me, and the block's name makes a magnificent snowflake moniker, too. Now, when the day comes I decide I want to do my own thing instead of the official BH2 block, I'm a week ahead of the game!

And if I end up liking all the BH2 blocks... I guess I have an orphan block perfectly suitable for another snowflake quilt. I don't think there is any such thing as enough snowflake quilts.


You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 2 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Dancing Diamonds Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 1 dc in ring, [ch 3, 2 dc in ring] 5 times; sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2. Pull magic circle tight.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 2: [In next ch 3 sp work 1 sc, 1 hdc, 1 dc, ch 7, sl st in 2nd ch from hook (picot made), ch 5, sk next 4 ch, sl st in next ch, 1 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc] 6 times; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: Tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.








Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict and My Quilt Infatuation.

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Friday Fortius

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Leaf Me Alone!

This was another of my three-day weekend goals. Didn't finish by the end of Memorial Day Weekend, but I am making such good progress!


I had planned to quilt this monster by hand from the day, back in about 2007, when I first started it. When I went into WIP-finishing mode while trying to make quilts for all the kiddos in my extended family, the possibility of free-motion quilting it popped in and out of my head just so I could get it done. My sweet sister-in-law Donna had staked her claim on this one when I finished and posted the second block on my blog, and I've been promising her it would be a birthday or Christmas present ever since. Her birthday was in May, so it was a goal (once again) this quarter.


I couldn't find the leftovers panel I planned for the back; I had created a few more of the smaller blocks with leaves I'd not used in the original project. I suppose some day that will re-appear, and then I can make yet another quilt from the leftovers of a dress that is so old, it's actually yearning to find usefulness in the scrap pile now.

Rather than cut the dress up (just yet, may still one day), I used the leftovers from the backing for Cool Side of the Rainbow, which was a wide cut from the Cosmos black used in the Cool Side of the Rainbow. The colorful hand-stitching on the back looks so cool against the neutral Cosmos!


I searched my embroidery stash and found a nice collection of DMC perle cotton I'd bought on clearance many years ago. I had every color I'd need but purple, and I thought I'd be able to pick up the purple the next day on the way home from work. Turns out the reason the perle cotton was on clearance is the crafts shops I normally try to avoid because I can never escape spending only what I plan to spend had quit carrying DMC perle cotton. Wasted trip. BUT... get this... I didn't spend a dime!!! I think I must have shattered a world record!!!


I decided to start quilting, even though I didn't have the purple. After the first block, I absolutely LOVED the look of the pearly perle, and I was so glad I'd decided to do this by hand rather than by machine!




I looked online to see if I could order a purple perle cotton. I found some at three different places: Herrschners, Joanne's and DMC. I could go to Joanne's and save shipping costs, but I didn't want to take the chance I might waste gas and time because the color I need wasn't in stock, so I decided to order online. I wouldn't need the purple for a while, so there was time for it to be shipped.

Shipping at Herrschners was outrageous, and Joanne's (which also has a feature to check if it's available in a local store, and the color I wanted wasn't stocked anywhere in the Denver metro) wasn't that much better, although it was less. DMC had free shipping if I ordered more than I needed. This project was turning out so wonderful, I don't mind rebuilding my perle cotton stash. I ordered every shade that looked like it might include purple, plus a few that were just too gorgeous to pass by. I spent a whole $20. Well worth it, don't you think?!?


One of the coolest aspects of this project is quilting by hand, which is how my paternal grandmother quilted. Free-motion quilting had not been discovered back in the 50s and 60s, when she was an active quilter. I even have a collection of embroidery needles she used, and one from this package is what I am using to hand quilt Leaf Me Alone. My sister-in-law told me she has a leaf-themed quilt fashioned by my maternal grandmother, which also was quilted by hand.




I hit the halfway mark during our recent trip to Moab. I worked on the quilt in the car on the way to Moab, and I worked on it each evening, even though Moab was WAY too hot for a blanket on my lap!!! We won't even talk about how many times I accidentally stabbed myself in the bumpy car, but I did manage to keep the blood off the quilt.

I am thoroughly enjoying this process, but I think the next hand-quilted quilt will be in winter, when I need the extra warmth while I work!


Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict and My Quilt Infatuation.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Pedal Forward

If someone asked me to write ten things I learned from my bicycle (or car) wreck, my list might be kind of juvenile. Some lessons I didn't have to learn the hard way, thank goodness. Most probably would not be applicable to, much less heeded by, other cyclists.

1. Pray before every ride.

2. Always wear a helmet.

3. Make sure the camera in your backpack is well-padded.

4. Don't go too fast.

5. Don't squeeze the breaks too hard.

6. Tuck and roll is good, but you have to remember to keep that right hand tucked. Don't stick it out to catch your whole body's weight!

7. The Over-The-Bars Scar Club is cool and sometimes even humorous, but one membership - one time - is adequate. Repeat performances aren't necessary.

8. Don't wait until 11 p.m. to go to the emergency room.

9. Never drop your insurance when you think it's a waste of money because you don't use it.

10. Don't try to comb your hair or put a fork in your mouth with your left hand while wearing a cast on your right hand.

I never got to meet Trey Hall, cyclist supreme and CEO of corporations such as Pizza Hut, Boston Market, Quizno's, Smashburger and TGI Fridays, but I recently met his wonderful wife Ann. Turns out we have much in common. She likes to ride her bike, too, and she likes to garden. We share a common faith. Before I left for a short, hot and sweet cycling vacation in Moab last weekend, Ann presented me with a copy of her husband's book, "Pedal Forward." I read it aloud in the car to my husband while he drove us home from Moab.

Suffice it to say, we could not put the book down once we started reading. The book is short, 133 pages, but packed with 10 magnificent lessons he learned during his recovery that helped him throughout his career and life. To say his experiences have had an impact on our lives and attitudes is an understatement. I think our lives have changed, and I'm glad. We both needed to hear how important our attitude is, especially after enduring hard knocks.

Trey, who died May 25, 2015, during a bicycle ride with Ann, fought back from what could have been a fatal bicycle wreck back in 1991 and 20 years later wrote a book about the lessons he learned during his recovery and achieving his goal to have a good attitude, learn to walk again, be a father, get back on the bike and go back to work.


After reading the book, I felt an incredible sadness that I had not met Trey before he died. And yet, I feel incredibly blessed to be his wife's friend now. When I told her I wish I had met him, she told me I will, I just have to be patient. She strongly believes in what comes after, just like I do, and she isn't afraid to talk about it. She has the faith of a saint, and she had to be one of the strongest women in the world to watch her husband go through the healing and recovery process after his body was so severely damaged.

Trey and friend Ken Calwell were riding about 20 mph near their homes in Kansas when they were hit head on by a woman who fell asleep at the wheel while traveling 55 mph. Scientifically and mathematically, the impact was something equivalent to the neighborhood of 75 mph. Can you imagine traveling over the hood of a vehicle, into the windshield and over the roof of the car before landing splat on the pavement after being hit that hard... and surviving???

Trey's lessons come from the bike, but he victoriously applies them to everyday life and any career. One of the reasons he went on to become such a successful businessman and wonderful father is because he paid attention to the lessons he learned from his bicycle.

His first and last lessons in the book hit me the hardest, even though I feel as if I've tried to incorporate them into my life my whole life, even before my car and bike wrecks. "It's the After that Matters," meaning what you do after something awful knocks the ground out from under you, is more important than how many owies you have because you hit the ground. I've had my share of owies, but what matters most is how I keep my head up and how I treat others in the wake of tragedy.

"Find the Joy" is self-explanatory. I don't know how Trey managed to maintain joy while going through such a brutal and excruciating recovery, even though he explains it well in the book. My owies have been nowhere near the degree of incapacitation as Trey's, yet there were days during both my recoveries, as well as when I had to move on after the death of my sister, the death of my brother, and both of my adopted kids running away, when something as simple as "Find the Joy" seemed like an unclimbable mountain.

And yet, the experiences Trey shares to illustrate his lessons help me see ways I can overpower depression that sometimes takes a bigger bite out of me than I think I can handle.

One of Trey's lessons... "Celebrate the Pain", often left me wincing. His descriptions of the pain he suffered brought back memories too real. I often was crying as I read to my husband. Ask him. He'll tell you. It hurt to remember such hurt so vividly. And yet, Trey found ways to bounce back.

So did I. I guess, in some ways, I didn't really understand I have bounced back until I read what Ken had to say about recovering and thriving in the process. What he wrote empowered me. It gave me courage. It's still giving me courage. His words are not going to fade away.

"Pedal Forward" is one of the best books I've ever read. I will be ever grateful Ann gifted me a copy. I am even more grateful to know her now, and I hope we will be able to share many experiences and memories that will help both of us triumph through the difficulties of life, as well as shine through the crowning moments. That's what Trey would have wanted. Or as Ann puts it, that's what Trey wants.

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Snowflake Monday

I'm officially a Blockhead!

I couldn't really join in the Moda Blockhead fun last year because I had way to many WIPs (works in progress - unfinished quilts) and because I was trying to finish/make quilts for 16 grandkids. This year, my quilt goal is to finish 10 more WIPs. I was hoping to accomplish that this quarter, and that isn't going to happen, but it's possible I might be able to pull it off by the end of the year.


Probably the last thing I need is to start yet another quilt, but this is such a fun way to use up scraps, and that's precisely what I'm using for my Blockhead blocks. It's been fun seeing the fat quarter collections others are using for their projects for the last couple of months, but I have planned all along to stick to leftovers and make my own fabric combo.


I have far more blue scraps than any other color in my stash, and a huge percentage of the blues features snowflakes. I sorted through just the very tip top of my blue box, pulling out only flake prints and solids/tone-on-tone that might work well for snowflake applique. I don't know if I will design a crocheted snowflake for every block, but there are plenty of blues for when an embellishment-worthy quilt block is released. The initial fabrics I've pulled don't make even a dent in the box!!!


I also added in the two-yard cut of Kona Royal I got on sale from Missouri Star Quilt Company quite a while back as a sort of background or unifying fabric. (I buy almost every two-yard solid cut MSQC offers as a Daily Deal because solids can be an awesome way to finish off an abandoned WIP!!!) I thought a common blue might help tie all the different uncoordinated snowflake prints together if I use at least a bit of it in every block. It's kind of funny to me... when I bought that particular two-yard cut, I thought it might be a good background fabric (I ended up not using) for a scrap quilt from my blue floral leftovers (that is now finished!!!).

I just started #modablockheads 2, a block of the week quilt. This is Week 1, Stellar Star.

A post shared by Leslie Dunn (@lesliedunn311) on Jun 7, 2018 at 3:27pm PDT

Decided to join in on modablockhead 2. Excited to see next weeks block!! #modablockheads #lellaboutique

A post shared by Lynda Wipperling (@lwipp) on Jun 6, 2018 at 8:07pm PDT

Moda Blockheads 2-Block #2-Stellar Star by Lynne of Kansas Troubles. It’s made out of Lilac Ridge. My quilt will be made out of Lilac Ridge and my next line Sweet Lilac. Go to janpatek.blogspot.com for details about the designer that I invited along and to see 4 of last years little Quilts and hangers on sale. #modafabrics #modablockheads#showmethemoda #janpatekquilts #janpatekquiltsinc #quiltersof instagram

A post shared by Jan Patek (@jan_patek_quilts) on Jun 6, 2018 at 7:43am PDT

I really enjoy seeing the different interpretations of the weekly block patterns, especially the ones with fussy cutting and embellishments. It was fun to watch last year without participating, and this year, I get to throw my own interpretations and embellishments into the mix.












When this year's Piece-a-Long/Mystery Quilt was announced, with a combination of blocks in 6-inch, 12-inch and 18-inch sizes, some quilters withdrew. I, on the other hand, am super excited about the puzzle opportunities I will have as I complete my blocks. I might have been tempted to join in even if I'd had another 16 grandkid quilts to make this year. The variety of sizes makes this project even more irresistible to me.

Plus, I don't have to add it to my WIP list until all the blocks are finished, right?


For the first block, which is the Stellar Star by Lynne Hagmeier, I didn't try to match anything. I pulled a blue from the non-snowflake stack, and then I pulled two lights and two darks from the snowflake stack. I selected white thread for the crocheted snowflake on the center of the block because it looked like it would show up nicely on the light blue Cosmos. The crocheted snowflake had to be smaller than 3 inches across, the size of the center block after piecing.

That means another snowflake perfect for the garden, but I don't have to call it Garden Snowflake 27. Ha ha!


The first block resulted in yet another collection of triangle leftovers. They are too small to use in my current triangle leftovers project. I have a feeling the Blockheads blocks will leave quite a few more leftover triangles by the end of the 52 blocks.


You may do whatever you'd like with snowflakes you make from this pattern, but you may not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks, and enjoy!


Finished Size: 2.5 inches from point to point
Materials: Size 10 crochet thread, size 7 crochet hook, empty pizza box, wax paper or plastic wrap, cellophane tape, water soluble school glue or desired stiffener, water, glitter, small container for glue/water mixture, paintbrush, stick pins that won't be used later for sewing, clear thread or fishing line

Stellar Snowflake Instructions

Make magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 4 dc in ring, take loop off hook, insert hook through 2nd ch of starting ch 2 and replace loop on hook, pull loop through ch (beginning popcorn stitch made), [ch 5, 5 dc in ring, take loop off hook, insert hook through top loop of 1st dc and replace loop on hook, pull loop through top of 1st dc (popcorn stitch made)] 2 times; ch 2, 1 tr in top of starting popcorn st to form 3rd ch 5 sp of Round. Pull magic ring tight.

Round 2: Ch 2 (counts as 1 dc), 2 dc over post of tr directly below, [ch 3, 3 dc in next ch 5 sp, ch 3, 3 dc in same ch 5 sp] 2 times; ch 3, 3 dc in starting ch 5 sp, ch 3, sl st in 2nd ch of starting ch 2.
If you're not reading this pattern on Snowcatcher, you're not reading the designer's blog. Please go here to see the original.

Round 3: [Ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made), ch 5, 1 sc in 5th ch from hook, ch 5, sl st in sc, ch 4, sl st in sc (tri-picot made), ch 3, 1 dc in 3rd ch from hook (dc picot made, sk next dc, sl st in next dc, 2 sc in next ch 3 sp, ch 2, 2 sc in same sp, sl st in next dc] 6 times; bind off. Weave in ends.

Finish: To applique snowflake to a quilt block, shape as directed below using a fine water mist instead of a glue mixture or other stiffener. Hand or machine applique snowflake to quilt block.

To stiffen snowflake for hanging or other decorative use, tape wax paper or plastic wrap to top of empty pizza box. Pin snowflake to box on top of wax paper or plastic wrap.

If using glue, mix a few drops of water with a teaspoon of glue in small washable container. Paint snowflake with glue mixture or desired stiffener. Sprinkle lightly with glitter. Wash paintbrush and container thoroughly. Allow snowflake to dry at least 24 hours. Remove pins. Gently peel snowflake from wax paper or plastic wrap. Attach 10-inch clear thread to one spoke, weaving in end. Wrap fishing line around tree branch (or tape to ceiling or any overhead surface) and watch the snowflake twirl freely whenever you walk by! Snowflake also may be taped to window or tied to doorknob or cabinet handle.


Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict and My Quilt Infatuation.

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