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.
Very nice! Like your FMQ! I’m going to make some mini quilts this year. The idea was to start learning FMQ, but I hand quilted the first one I made! 🙂 You can see it at: http://meynensoutenboom.blogspot.be/2017/01/january-mini.html .
I’m totally swooning – I have a sorta secret obsession with blue snowflake fabrics (don’t tell anyone). Your embellishment and quilting are just perfect – love, love, love it!
I think blue snowflake fabric is worth obsessing over!! And your sweet words are too kind. Thank you so much! 😀
Your snowflakes are beautiful!
Thank you! 🙂
I love this! How gorgeous and detailed! Woot Woot!
Thanks Kim! I love how much fun I had with the challenge!
Absolutely beautiful! I admire your patience cutting out all that detail work…they look so precious as they dance across the surface of your quilt. Lovely!!
Thank you! It did take some patience, but the outcome was totally worth it! Already I’m thinking about other things I could make using that same technique. Thanks for visiting! 🙂
Amazing how you cut those snowflakes! What a beautiful little quilt. It looks wonderful in the snow, and I bet it looks great on your fridge, too.
It looks better in the snow than it does on the fridge… old fridge. Haha! I still love them though. 😀