This month's designer block challenge was the Arkansas Snowflake. I like this block. It is pretty and versatile. Let's look at the block itself before we delve into my challenge interpretation.
Here is the lovely block. Simple, elegant and really a beautiful star! So how would you make this block. It's really pretty easy!
Once I pull it apart, you can see it is make up of four solid squares, four "V Block" or Peaky and Spike as some know it, and one Hourglass block in the center.
You can find details on making the V Block here: V Block Post
You can find details on making the Hourglass block here: Hourglass Post
The secret? Well there really isn't one, but you do need to keep in mind that ALL of your units need to be the same size! Other than that, easy peasy!
So on to the challenge. You know how I constantly encourage you to try new things, explore and ask "what if"? Well, I did that. And while I enjoyed the journey, the result was "eh". I'm ok with it. Disappointed - but ok. Let's look at the journey.
The first step for me is to choose my fabrics. This time, I decided to add an extra element to the challenge by working ONLY with leftover fabrics from a quilt. Fun! I love trying to repurpose pieced scraps and reimagine them. So I felt like I was off to a strong start! So this block was going to be cool crisp blues, some creamy white, and a bright cheerful yellow.
Next step - comb through the pieced scraps to see what I could use and repurpose for this block. The quilt I had made was a version of a Kaleidoscope block, so I have all these pieced wedges. My thought - use them INSTEAD OF the V Block portion of the block. Ok - that sounds interesting!
Next step - selecting strip widths for the background portion of the star points. I decided to just improv this - not worry about accuracy or exact consistency. And heck - throw caution to the wind and don't even worry about using a directional fabric. Again - fun!
In an attempt to make the star points somewhat asymmetrical, I decided to use a narrower strip on the other side of my star point. Ok - sounds good (in theory, so many things SOUND good).
I didn't take a pic of the center, but I decided (still using scraps) to make a pinwheel/kaleidoscope center rather than an hourglass center AND to make it off kilter. Just for fun.
Hmmm....since that yellow in the star points is soooo bright - I thought I should add a narrow frame of bright yellow around the center. FYI - I should NOT have done that. It is too much.
Ok - since I added the frame around the center, what if I added a narrow sashing on two sides of the star points too? LOVE this part of the block!
And then I put the whole mess (yes, it is a hot mess at this point) together.
And here is my Arkansas Snowflake. The points have more symmetry than I was going for. It lost the "Arkansas Snowflake" look. The yellow frame in the center is too much yellow. The center kaleidoscope block isn't off kilter enough - it just looks "off". The whole thing is just "eh".
But...it is JUST a block! And I learned some things in the process:
- I should have TESTED my ideas (the off kilter center, the yellow frame) BEFORE committing to them
- Follow my own advise and use yellow sparingly! Yes, it can and does overwhelm easily.
- It's ok to not love every project. I loved the process. I love being challenged. And I have an element now I want to incorporate into a future project (the narrow sashing on the sides of the blocks).
Head over to Kate's blog to see her insights into the Arkansas Snowflake block too! Click here: Kate's Blog Post
Be sure to head over to Instagram and check out all of the amazing projects the other designers created for this block challenge. I think it is amazing what can be done with what is often thought of as a "basic" block!
Hey - before you go, I wanted to let you know that I'm starting a Quilt Block Challenge June 1st. Get on the wait list and get all of the details for this free, fun month long challenge!
Interested? Click here (https://view.flodesk.com/pages/624df0c78d82793f8155498a) to sign up to get announcements about how the challenge is going to run, when it is going to start, and all the fun details!
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