Road to Oklahoma quilt block

Road to Oklahoma

November 6, 1933-Road to Oklahoma is Nancy's quilt block today. She published her pattern using this block in her Chicago Tribune column and sold it for "5 cents in coin or stamps."

About this quilt pattern she wrote, "When the pioneer woman who created this quilt pattern lived, the road to Oklahoma was rough and rocky and tortuous; the quilt hardly represents it. But perhaps the clever quilter foresaw our smooth roads, or perhaps the design got its name because it was created on a journey to that state. At any rate, it's an attractive and popular pattern."

Wouldn't it be interesting to know the real stories behind these very old quilt blocks?




There is a Road to Oklahoma pattern from 1895 by the Ladies Art Co. here. The pattern was pieced using just three templates. I made my 6" block a little differently using squares and rectangles. The photo below shows the parts. All squares are cut at 2". The four white rectangles are cut at 2"x3 1/2". You need ten green squares and two white squares.The center row has a four patch block in the center and two pieces like the piece in the center of each side.

To create the side units, sew a green square on the corner of a white rectangle, sew on the diagonal and flip the corner down to form a triangle as shown below. You need two of each block shown. Place the diagonal line in the opposite corner to create the block at the bottom of the photo.

Sew the parts together in rows and then sew the three rows together to finish the block.

Here are some links to Road to Oklahoma quilts-

bright, scrappy version

scrappy with sashing

red and white with alternate plain blocks

red and yellow with alternate red blocks

The Road to Oklahoma block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #1123b.

Tomorrow-Fragrance