Mrs. Cleveland's Choice quilt block

Mrs. Cleveland's Choice

May 8, 1933-Mrs. Cleveland's Choice is the name of today's quilt block and honors the wife of President Grover Cleveland.  She was the "first White House bride; her romantic marriage as well as her youth, beauty and charm endeared her to the public" explains Nancy Cabot when writing about this block.  She goes on to say that the block was dedicated to Mrs. Cleveland in 1886 when she was just 22.

Does this block look a little familiar?  The center is the Jack in the Pulpit block from May 5th only much smaller!




I paper pieced this pattern because of all the small pieces.  Here's what all the parts look like-

Notice the upper right hand corner of the block?  I pieced it differently than the other three corners.  I like the way the other corners go together better so I'm glad I only tried one corner like that.

You can get the pattern here.  Templates are included for cutting the small borders that surround the center of the block.

You can see an antique Mrs. Cleveland's Choice quilt pattern here.  It's from the Ladies Art Company in 1895.  Notice the secondary pattern that's formed when the blocks are joined?



There is an antique quilt here that has sashing between the blocks for a very different look.

Eleanor Burns has a video on making the Mrs. Cleveland's Choice quilt block in her Tales of First Ladies series.  The video is for making a larger block that is not paper pieced.

Here's a slide show of what she refers to as Jack in the Pulpit quilt blocks from Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville. They are the same block as Nancy's Mrs. Cleveland's Choice.

Tomorrow-Flying X