This is my first attempt, but I really like the extra reinforcement of the seams for a kid's quilt. The snowball block seems tailor-made for serging - all those corners to clip off - ugh! :)
The center square is 6½" sq and you lay a 2½" contrasting square on each corner of the center block, right sides together. (I glued the outside corners together with Elmer's School Glue at this point, just to hold them in alignment.)
Draw a diagonal line from point to point across the wrong side of each small square, then sew just a thread or two to the right of the lines. You'll then trim away the glued corners, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance.
Being new to serging, I didn't get real consistent seams, and I've since learned that I should have aimed the needle into the fabric just to the right of the drawn line, instead of on it. That would have given me better corners and straighter edges on the sewn blocks.
I pressed the seams on each block to the darker color, whether it was in the center square or the outer squares. Since the quilt alternates dark/light/dark throughout, when you go to sew the squares together, the diagonal seams lie alongside each other and the bulk of the fabric doesn't all pile up in one spot.
(Edited for clarity - I hope!)
This message was edited Jan 8, 2010 12:45 PM
