Old Maid's Puzzle quilt block

Old Maid's Puzzle

June 15, 1933-"Today's pattern, "Old Maid's Puzzle," is a simple design to work and would be more suitable for the busy bachelor girl of today to pick up in her rare spare moments" wrote Nancy Cabot in her Chicago Tribune column in reference to today's block.


I agree that it's a super simple block.  For a 6" Old Maid's Puzzle block, just make two half square triangle blocks that finish at 3" for opposite corners.  The remaining corners are four patch blocks made from two 2" squares and two half square triangle blocks that finish at 1 1/2".  Just refer to the photo of my block for placement of the blocks.


There's a really scrappy Old Maid's Puzzle quilt here.  Be sure to check out this quilt that's set on point.  Note that the four patch blocks are turned differently than Nancy Cabot's block. See the block that is made wrong? I wonder if that was on purpose?

I made my 6" block following the drawing that Nancy Cabot included in her column.  She showed a print fabric for the large triangles, a solid fabric for the small triangles and a light background. The Old Maid's Puzzle block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #1314a.

Tomorrow-Flying Swallows