The snowball is often combined with 9patch blocks.
This was just posted:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-122863-1.htm
With proper fabric placement (color or value), you can mask both blocks creating a great secondary (and sometimes even a tertiary) pattern. Lot of bang for very little buck. ;-)
Both blocks are created with a 3x3 grid so they "merge" together in this combo.