Double Hour Glass quilt block

Double Hour Glass

May 3, 1933-Nancy Cabot credits Long Island New York as the home of the Double Hour Glass quilt design.  It's a very old design "inspired by the common time-keeping device of early Colonial days" she explains.

You can see what claims to be a copy of Nancy's original pattern by going here.

This is a super simple block to make.  You just need one 2 1/2" square for the center, four 2 1/2" squares for the corners and four half square triangles that finish at 2" for the hour glasses.

The Double Hour Glass block can be found in Electric Quilts BlockBase program as #1687a.

You can make a 12" block by following the directions at Quilter's Cache.  It's shown as the Contrary Wife block there so just change the color of the center block and you'll have Nancy Cabot's Double Hour Glass block!

There are directions for making a 9" block here just as Nancy did along with a little history about the block.  It says the block was known as Double Hour Glass in 1933, Contrary Wife in 1941 and Road to California in 1973!

You can see antique quilts using this pattern by going here and here.

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