Frozen Blooms was first published in Issue One of Make Modern Magazine, and it remains one of my favourite makes. I still have that original quilt — it lives in my camper and comes along on every adventure.
I designed this in EQ8 by playing with the flowering snowball block.
I wanted to modernise and make it Asymmetrical it is built from three blocks that create soft curves and petals when pieced together.
Over time, I’ve shared three versions of this quilt, each one showing how striking the design looks in different settings:
The original version was re-photographed while we were travelling down New Zealand’s West Coast, with snow-capped mountains in the background — a perfectly chilly backdrop for Frozen Blooms.
A mini version became a mug rug I used at work — small, practical, and a lovely way to enjoy the design every day.
And then there was the beautiful queen-sized version... which, let’s just say, didn’t survive. I had planned to enter it in a show — it looked amazing in the photo, when I washed it to make it all crinkly and full of texture. But I didn’t pre-wash with a colour catcher, and the Essex linen bled. In a fit of rage, I tossed it into the wheelie bin. (Still not over it.)
This updated version of the pattern is broken into five modules, so you can follow along at your own pace:
- Cutting – all the prep you need
- Block One – petals and centres
- Block Two – curved petal units
- Block Three – petal and straight piecing
- Assembly – laying it out and sewing it all together
- Quilting
- Binding
Block size:
14" Finished 14.5" unfinished
Quilt size:
70" × 70"