Handy Andy quilt block

Handy Andy

March 31, 1933- The Handy Andy quilt block gets it's name from the title given to "a person able to do many odd jobs without a workshop full of tools" wrote Nancy in her Chicago Tribune column.

She credits "some clever Connecticut woman" with designing this block.  She remarked that the block called for triangular cutting but that's no so today!  We have other methods available to us.

Normally I would make the half square triangle blocks with Triangles on a Roll or draw a diagonal line on two squares and sew on each side of the line to get two half square triangles.

 However, this block is a 5 patch and I am making my blocks  6 inches finished which makes for some very odd sizes to try to cut so I will paper piece it when I have time to make it..  You can get the templates here.  The block can also be found in BlockBase as #1878.

There will not be a block posted tomorrow.  I will continue making the blocks and blogging about them as soon as I am able to.

Friendship Ring quilt block

Friendship Ring

March 30, 1933-The Friendship Ring quilt block was also known as Dresden Plate or Broken China in 1933 but the name, Friendship Ring, "recalls quaint practice of pioneer days" writes Nancy in her column on this day, eighty years ago.

The Friendship Ring quilt was "made of new materials collected by friends." Not many quilts in pioneer days were made from new fabric!

 I think it would be fun to collect fabrics from friends to make this quilt!  It would be craziness to make a six inch block though.  There are 20 wedges in Nancy's pattern!

Tomorrow- Handy Andy

Double Monkey Wrench quilt block

Double Monkey Wrench

March 29, 1933- Monkey Wrench Inspiration of 2-Color Quilt was the title of Nancy Cabot's column introducing the Double Monkey Wrench quilt block to her Chicago Tribune readers.  She said making the block with only two contrasting colors "can be beautiful" and that many of the older quilts were made more scrappy.

This simple nine patch block is easy to make using rotary cutting.  No templates needed!

This block can be found in Electric Quilt as Double Monkey Wrench.









There are only three parts to the block (6") as shown-

4-units of 2 strips sewn together-2 1/2" * unfinished
1-center square-2 1/2"
4-half square triangle blocks, 2 1/2" unfinished

*start with 2 strips-1 1/2" X 2 1/2"


Sew the parts together in these three rows and you are finished!  Super simple!!

Tomorrow-Friendship Ring

Sunbonnet Baby quilt block

Sunbonnet Baby

March 28, 1933-Sunbonnet Baby was "one of the most popular of the juvenile quilt patterns" in 1933 according to Nancy Cabot when she wrote her Chicago Tribune column.  She stated, "The charming little miss may be appliqued in any color on a twelve inch square of white material."

 Her line drawing of the block shows two rows of flowers on the bonnet that appear to be embroidered.  I wonder if the embroidery was part of the pattern?

I think this block would be another great one to use in a whole quilt and use up a bunch of scraps making the dresses and bonnets all different!

I made the sleeve and hand using contrasting fabrics because they were completely lost in the patterned fabric of the dress.  I added two rows of decorative machine stitching to mimic the embroidery Nancy showed on the bonnet.  You can get a rough hand drawn pattern here if you want to try this block.

Tomorrow-Double Monkey Wrench

Rolling Star quilt pattern

Rolling Star

March 27, 1933-Nancy Cabot had very little to say when introducing the Rolling Star quilt pattern.  She just says that "starlit skies have been the inspiration for many beautiful quilt patterns, and this design, "Rolling Star", is another of the adaptations."  She showed it as a two color block with an octagonal shape.

The center of the the block is the Eight Point Star which we have made previously.  The pattern is available in Electric Quilt as Rolling Star.  It is shown as a square block which is actually how it needs to be made to fit into a sampler quilt.

I think the best way to make this block at a 6" finished size would be to hand piece it just like it was originally made.  I have not made it yet but think I will give it a try.  Here are the templates you will need if you would like to try to hand piece it yourself.

Tomorrow-Sunbonnet Baby

Battle of the Alamo quilt block

Battle of the Alamo

March 26, 1933-"Battle of Alamo" Quilt Pattern Was Designed by Texan in 1836 was the title of Nancy Cabot's column presenting the Battle of the Alamo quilt block.  It was the second in her series of  "quilt patterns commemorating famous American historical events."  She also presented the blocks from the week so readers would get another chance to buy the patterns for "five cents in stamps or coin."

I used a combination of methods to make this block.  The two nine patch blocks are made from 1 1/2" squares.  If my scraps would have allowed it, I would have strip pieced the blocks to save time.

To make the other two blocks, I cut a 3 7/8"square of fabric on the diagonal to get the large side of the blocks. To make the half square triangle blocks, I used paper piecing.  To me it's just faster and you can use up weird size scraps.  To get the templates, go here.

Here are the basic units of the block.  The upper corner shows the 2 paper pieced units and the lower corner shows those 2 units sewn together.








Below are the four sections completed.  Sew the four together and you are done!

Tomorrow- Rolling Star

Sunburst 2	Cherry Basket	Star of the Sea	Bear's Paw
Triple Sunflower	Flying Clouds

Flying Clouds quilt block

Flying Clouds

March 25, 1933-The Flying Clouds quilt pattern was the favorite design of a "gentle little 96 year old lady" who treasured a quilt that she had made "in soft blues and white"  using the pattern many years before.  Nancy Cabot chose to feature the design from the lady's scrapbook.  Another name for the block was "Four Frogs."

This is another block that would have very small pieces if made at 6 inches finished, so I passed on it.

The block can be found in Electric Quilt's BlockBase program as #Y022.

Tomorrow-Battle of the Alamo