Happy New Year!

Last June at one of our modern quilt guild meetings, one of our members shared her ‘refrigerator quilts’.  She was making one small quilt a week (around 12″ square) to hang on her refrigerator.  Since small quilts take less time, it’s easy to try a variety of techniques without being fully committed with a large quilt.

Our challenge that month was to make a refrigerator quilt, so made this cute butterfly and sunflower quilt out of my fabric scraps.  It is all applique and measures 9-1/2 x 12-1/2.

It’s hung on my refrigerator since then.  But now it’s winter and I need something on the refrigerator that matches the season better.

Enter Project Quilting Season 8.  Hosted by Persimon Dreams, Project Quilting starts January 1st each year and is a total of 6 challenges every other week based on the theme for that week.  This weeks theme is “Eight is Great”.  The challenge is to create a project that has something to do with the number “8”.  I thought this challenge series would be a great opportunity to make more refrigerator quilts.

For this first challenge, I decided to make 8-pointed snowflakes.  Just in time too, for the big snowstorm we got last night.

I tried a new technique.  I used a Fiskars craft knife to cut out the fine details of the snowflakes.  It was a bit tedious, and the tip of the blade was dull after just one snowflake, but I love how lacy they are.  (I layered a printout of the snowflake, Lite Steam-a-Seam 2, and the fabric, and then cut on top of a self-healing mat)

I free motion quilted all over, and then add hand embroidered ‘wind’ swirls.  It finishes at 11″ square.

The front fabrics are all Cirrus Solids by Cloud 9 fabrics.  Part of the fat quarter pack I won almost two years ago here.  The quilting is done in Aurifil clear poly thread.

The back is an Art Gallery print that just matched it perfectly.  I hate using such nice fabric for the back of anything, but it matched so perfectly I just had to.

This was super fun!  I can’t wait to see what the next challenge will be.

Linking up with Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Project Quilting Season 8 at Persimon Dreams.