Snow Flurries

It's Day 8 of our Winter Quilts Series! Intricate and innovative, the snowflakes on this quilt are created by paper-piecing and the sun-printing method. Let's take a look at how quilt artist Peggy Martin achieved these fascinating effects.

Snow Flurries, 40 x 40, by Peggy Martin at Peggy Martin Quilts

Peggy Martin is a very popular and internationally known artist, author, and teacher who was selected as the 2010 Quilting Teacher of the Year by The Professional Quilters Association.  In "Snow Flurries", Peggy has constructed the three larger snowflakes with a paper-piecing method.  Each snowflake consists of six pie-shaped blocks which are pieced together to all meet in the middle, creating a hexagon shape.

The smaller snowflakes are created using a sun-printing technique. To make sun-printed snowflakes, take white fabric and paint it with Setacolor transparent fabric paint.  While the paint is still wet, take a snowflake that you have cut out of freezer paper and finger-press it on top of the fabric. Allow the paint to dry in bright sunlight, then peel off the freezer paper, and there is your snowflake printed on the fabric!

Peggy Martin also offers workshops on the whole quilt and on the snowflake block:

In a recent interview on the C and T Publishing Blog,  Peggy says," I began making quilts for my home, mainly in blues and burgundies. Now I enjoy exploring as many different color combinations as possible and playing with the interaction of colors in different ways in my newer quilts."

The bright navy background and icy chambray blue colors here make a lovely monochromatic combination, but there are many colorways options for these snowflakes. For example, this quilt would look very pretty  done with a clear bright pink background, lime green inner border, and white snowflakes for a little girl's room.

*Snow Flurries" by Peggy Martin, free downloadable wallpaper image available at C and T Publishing

Peggy has used her artistic talent to develop forms and shapes which twinkle and sparkle so much that they almost jump off the computer screen. These snowflakes against the deep blue background also remind us of beautiful stars on a cold, clear, winter night. 

The "Snow Flurries" pattern is in Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way by Peggy Martin: 

We own a copy of  this book, and we cannot say enough good things about its content, organization, quilt ideas, and great writing !  We strongly recommend it, as it is full of useful instructions and dazzling projects.  Also, you can learn Quick-Strip Paper Piecing from Peggy Martin in her new online workshop at Craftsy.

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of Peggy Martin.  We previously featured her award-winning Eye of the Storm quilt in our series on Storm at Sea.