Per a conversation on the AQSG list, I am posting a couple of photos of an old Laura Wheeler block called Snowball Wreath.
Notice the crazy shapes the newspaper printed for piecing (lower right). Could anyone actually make a quilt from those kinds of pieces? I would really love to see a 1930s or 1940s (or whenever this pattern was printed) quilt from this pattern.This is my attempt. I appliqued the circles on after piecing them.
I issued an informal challenge on a list and Julie made the one above.
The challenge required people to draft their own templates and I found that to be quite a challenge, because 1) I only had the information on the newspaper clipping image. I don’t have the actual newspaper; 2) the block is not made from a grid that I could figure out; and 3) the circles did not exactly line up.
It was a fun and challenging puzzle, one in which I am still interested.
From Barbara Brackman’s blog on the Snowball Wreath (Snow ball Wreath): http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/01/snow-ball-wreath.html
Jaye, there’s a listing on ebay for a photocopy of the original newspaper pattern. http://tinyurl.com/oe2qbkh
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I have seen this. I have a set of books with all the Kansas City Star blocks and BlockBase. I looked to see if BlockBase had the Snowball Wreath block, but I haven’t installed after my computer crash of last summer (DERRRRR, as the Y.M. would say). I prefer just to look at the blocks rather than buying the vintage things, BUT it would be interesting to try and make templates out of the newspaper version and see if I could make the block.I could even get rotary cutting templates made. It would be an interesting exercise.