Make This: Snowball Quilt Block Tutorial

It’s back to quilt school time!  This time of year always has us thinking of learning, so we thought it would be a great day for a quilt block tutorial.  Our Diamond in Square Quilt Block Tutorial has been popular lately, and the Snowball Block is a cousin.  The idea of the Snowball Block is to create the illusion of a circle, without sewing the curves or using applique.  Once this block is sewn into a quilt, you’ll lose the quarter inch seams all the way around, and it will appear more round.For a 3″ finished block, cut the large center square 3.5″, and four background squares each 1.25″.  Other useful sizes to cut: 6.5″ center blocks would use 2.25″ corner blocks, and 10″ center blocks would use 3.25″ corner blocks.  The idea is to use a big enough corner piece that it doesn’t get lost in the design, but small enough to not make the center too square.  You can experiment with different sizes and see what you like the best!Draw a diagonal line on the back of each corner square, then line them up along all the corners of the center square.

Sew along each drawn line.  The nice part about the Snowball Block is that you can do all the corners at once, before trimming and pressing.

Trim each corner, leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance outside of the stitching line.

Press each corner to the outside of the block, creating your finished Snowball Block.

This is a simple quilt block, but it is a staple among quilters and very versatile.  You can use this block for borders, rows, or even a whole quilt (hint for something fun to come!).  This block is also a part of our Prairie Pinwheel Baby Quilt Tutorial.  Great big blocks can look like Chinese lanterns or work well for an I-Spy quilt, or any project where you want to showcase the fabric prints.