Children of Israel quilt block

Children of Israel

December 31, 1933-Children of Israel is the name of the quilt pattern published by Nancy Cabot in her Chicago Tribune column today.

This quilt design was originally called Chosen Children and dates back to early colonial New England according to Nancy.

"Pieced in old blue and white or combined with gay prints, it is quaintly charming. Either way, the quilt possesses great character and individuality," she wrote.

I did not make this block for my sampler quilt as it isn't really practical to make a 6" block using this design.

Though I can not find any patterns or quilts using Nancy Cabot's Children of Israel pattern, I did find a similar quilt here.

Children of Israel can be found in Electric Quilt's program as #2425.

This is the last block published by Nancy Cabot in 1933 and the last one for this blog, at least for awhile. Now, to make the sampler quilt!

Poppy Garden quilt block

Poppy Garden

December 30, 1933-Nancy Cabot's Poppy Garden quilt pattern was published today. It is the last floral applique pattern this year.

As far as colors for this quilt go, she suggested making the flowers in "all the lovely shades of the yellow poppy, in the delicate shades of the pink poppy or in the gorgeous deep reds of the Chinese poppy, with which we are most familiar."

Nancy recommended the flowers be "set together with strips of soft green, differing from the deep green used in the leaves."

She went on to say, "It is easily appliqued and is a quilt that increases in charm with time."

This Poppy Garden  block is very similar to the Rose Garden block from November 11, 1933.

Rose Garden

Two copies of Poppy Garden patterns attributed to Nancy Cabot can be seen here. The second pattern is more like the version she published today.

Tomorrow-Children of Israel

Rose of Le Moyne quilt block

Rose of Le Moyne

December 29, 1933-Rose of Le Moyne is yet another applique rose design by Nancy Cabot. This one, however,does not look much like a rose to me. It reminds me more of fuchsia.

There are several names for this design-The General's Rose, Rose of New Orleans, The Lucky Rose according to Nancy.

She believed "Quilt historians prefer "Rose of Lemoyne," on account of the date of the pattern and the influence that gallant Frenchman had on the early history of New Orleans. It is made of shades of red, deep rose, and light rose, with deep green for the leaves."

I have not been able to find any patterns or quilts made that go by any of the names.

Tomorrow-Poppy Garden

Swallow's Flight quilt block

Swallow's Flight

December 28, 1933-Swallow's Flight is the name of the quilt pattern published by Nancy Cabot today in her Chicago Tribune column.

Her column read as follows, "A quilt of this pattern has the appearance of a flock of birds in flight. It might well be considered a modern quilt, so strikingly simple is the design. It is tremendously effective as a whole. Swallow's Flight may be pieced in prints or plain colors, or both. It is a type of pattern that allows every quiltmaker the opportunity of showing originality in color combinations and arrangement."

I have not been able to find any additional information on this quilt design. I think it looks modern even today!




I decided to paper piece my 6" block because of the odd angles. It is a very easy block to make. Here are the parts of my pattern-

The pieces get sewn together like shown in the two photos below-

You can download my pattern here. The Swallow's Flight design makes an interesting quilt when set on the diagonal like shown below.

Tomorrow-Rose of Le Moyne

Buckeye Beauty quilt block

Buckeye Beauty

December 27, 1933-The quilt pattern of the day published by Nancy Cabot is called Buckeye Beauty or Rockingham Beauty.

Nancy believed the name of Buckeye Beauty is the older name and "since the pattern is a native of Ohio, quilt historians quite naturally credit "Buckeye Beauty" with being the original."

"When first made the quilt was pieced in prints. It has since been made in solid colors and has enjoyed great popularity," she wrote.

The Buckeye Beauty block is an easier version of the Star of Many Points quilt block that was published on July 4, 1933. The only difference is the center of the block. Buckeye Beauty has a plain square in it's center while the Star of Many Points has a pieced center.







There are four sections sections of the Buckeye Beauty quilt block and each one goes together like this-

The Ladies Art Co. published this pattern in 1895 under the name of Rockingham's Beauty. Their pattern used a square in the center as opposed to the center being pieced.

There is an antique navy, pink and white Rockingham's Beauty quilt at the Quilt Index that is quite interesting.

Buckeye Beauty can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #2987 and #1254. Th difference in the two designs is the block construction. The first one has "y" seams and the latter does not. I chose to use the latter. You can download my pattern here.

Tomorrow-Swallow's Flight

Wisconsin Rose quilt block

Wisconsin Rose

December 26, 1933-Nancy Cabot published yet another applique rose design today. The pattern is called Wisconsin Rose.

"This fragile little wild rose which blooms so profusely in Wisconsin, was the inspiration of this dainty quilt design. The graceful spray is lovely on a quilt when pieced in the delicate pink of the wild rose, soft green and yellow. It is most suitable and attractive for a young girl's bed," she wrote.

I have not found any patterns for this Wisconsin Rose design or any quilts made using it.

Tomorrow-Buckeye Beauty

Pineapple quilt block

Pineapple

December 25, 1933-The Chicago Tribune published a quilt pattern even on Christmas! The Pineapple pattern is an applique design and not the log cabin variation that we would typically think of when referring to the Pineapple design today. Most quilters would more than likely envision this log cabin variation from Generations Quilt Patterns.

Pineapple

"The "pineapple" design was originated during the early colonial days, when that fruit was still an object of curiosity in this country. The original of this quilt was made in somber shades of green and brown. Today it may be made gayly attractive by the use of soft greens and lively prints," explained Nancy Cabot when introducing her Pineapple quilt pattern.

A copy of Nancy's pattern can be seen here. An applique Pineapple quilt that pre-dates Nancy's pattern can be seen here. Interesting choice of colors-pink and white!

Tomorrow-Wisconsin Rose

Friendship Links quilt block

Friendship Links

December 24, 1933-On this Christmas eve, Friendship Links was the pattern Nancy Cabot published in the Chicago Tribune.

I love the story behind this block. "Friendship Links seems rather a fitting name for a design offered to all the friends of this column on the day before Christmas.  Two women planned this design, each using the fabric of her dress for the intertwined links. We can imagine what a chain of memories these quilts brought to the women who, though good friends, were separated by miles of prairie. That the pattern and the idea behind it were popular is testified by the fact that these quilts are to be found in all parts of the United States and Canada," explained Nancy.

Wouldn't it be fun to exchange fabrics with friends to make a quilt using this block?

I found a red, white and blue antique Friendship Links quilt here. I haven't found any old patterns by this name.

Friendship Links is an easy block to make. The pieces could easily be rotary cut, but for a 6" block, the dimensions are in 16ths and most rulers don't have those markings on them so I decided to combine methods. I cut the center from templates and paper pieced the corners my 6" block. Check out my paper piecing tutorial here.

Here are the paper pieced corners I used with the center that was cut from templates. The center  has been pieced using the partial seam method to add the rectangles around the center square.

The three center sections were then sewn to make a diagonal row like this-

The three new sections are sewn together to finish the block. You can download my pattern here.

Friendship Links can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #4189.

Tomorrow-Pineapple

Slashed Star quilt block

Slashed Star

December 23, 1933-Slashed Star is the name of the quilt pattern of the day published by Nancy Cabot.

"The "Slashed Star" design offered today appears at first glance to be too complicated for the amateur or even experienced quilter. As a matter of fact it is quite easy to piece and the finished quilt is sufficiently beautiful to be well worth the effort," wrote Nancy. I have to agree with her about that.

If you break the block down into wedge shaped sections that can be paper pieced, the block would go together very easily. However, for a 6" block, I don't think it is practical because the seam allowances are larger than the pieces.

The Ladies Art Company published a Slashed Star quilt pattern in 1895 that looks exactly like Nancy Cabot's design. You can see it here. Be sure to look at all four pages.

I colored my block as was suggested by the Ladie's Art Company pattern. I haven't been able to find any quilts made using this pattern.

The Slashed Star block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #3463.

Tomorrow-Friendship Links

Diamonds and Shadows quilt block

Diamonds and Shadows

December 22, 1933-Nancy Cabot published her Diamonds and Shadows quilt pattern in the Chicago Tribune today.

"This interesting design, while made in blocks, gives the appearance of being made with strips, as the pattern forms a continuous design down the length of the quilt. The diamonds should be in a plain color, the shadows either in delicate prints or a plain color of lighter shade than the diamonds." That is the entirety of Nancy's column introducing her Diamonds and Shadows quilt pattern.

I have not been able to find any additional information on this quilt block.




In making this 6" quilt block for my sampler quilt, I eliminated many of the seams from Nancy's original design. Her block was made from half rectangles only. The color placement determined whether the section looked like a diamond or a zigzag as shown below.

I once again paper pieced my 6" block. In the photo shown below, the paper pieced sections are shown on the upper left, the lower left shows the zigzag section sewn together and the right side shows the diamond sewn to the zigzag. You end up with four of these zigzag/diamond blocks that are sewn together to get your Diamonds and Shadows block.

You can download my pattern here.

Tomorrow-Slashed Star

North Carolina Star quilt block

North Carolina Star

December 21, 1933-The North Carolina Star is the quilt pattern of the day published by Nancy Cabot in the Chicago Tribune.

She wrote, "Today's design is one of the loveliest of all the variations of the star pattern. It is the authentic state star pattern of North Carolina and, of course, quite old. Originally it was executed in blue and white calico, since those colors and that fabric were most common. Today it is usually made in modern materials in a variety of colors."

I love this block! I agree that it is "one of the loveliest" as Nancy said. It's not too complicated either if you paper piece it as I did. You can download my pattern here.



Here are the paper pieced parts to my pattern-

I sewed them together like shown below.

To sew the last three pieces together, it was easier for me to sew the short seam at the center and then match up the two long seams to sew. You could also start at one end, sew to the center, pivot your pieces, sew across the center, pivot, and sew down the last side.

There is an old North Carolina Star pattern by The Progressive Farmer here. Look at this pattern (image 10) from Aunt Martha in 1960 that gives "complete instructions" on making this block. Quite different from the patterns we buy today! Another image (#36) of a North Carolina Star block and a little instruction on colors for this quilt can be seen in the Indiana Farmer's Guide from 1940.

The North Carolina Star block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #3045 though the proportions are very different from Nancy Cabot's but more in keeping with the patterns I refer to in the links above. I prefer Nancy's version!

I did not find any quilts made using this block design but I found this sampler quilt that has a North Carolina Star in the second row and the bottom row.

Tomorrow-Diamonds and Shadows

Garden of Eden quilt block

Garden of Eden

December 20, 1933-The quilt pattern published by Nancy Cabot today is called Garden of Eden.

"A colonial woman with a great deal of imagination designed this pattern and gave it the intriguing name of "Garden of Eden." It is particularly effective when the prints harmonize with the plain color."

I'm not sure what she is referring to as being so imaginative. Maybe the name? I don't see anything about the design that would suggest the Garden of Eden. Am I missing something?

A Garden of Eden pattern attributed to Nancy Cabot can be seen here but it shows a contrasting center square which Nancy does not show in her newspaper column. The Ladies Art Co. published a Garden of Eden quilt pattern which can be seen here. Be sure to check out the second image to see what a quilt would look like made from this design.

Here are some links to antique Garden of Eden quilts-

unusual on point

two color with sashing and cornerstones

signature quilt with sashing

two color with alternate plain blocks

I could not find any quilts made using the layout suggested by the Ladies Art Co. pattern or Nancy's pattern!

This is certainly a very easy quilt block to make. It's simply four square in a square blocks with sashing. The square in a square blocks start with a 3" square. The squares for the corners are cut at 1 3/4". The block in the upper left corner shows how to add the corners using the stitch and flip method. the lower left block shows the completed square in a square block after all four corners have been added. The strips are cut 1 1/2" wide. Two pieces are cut 3" long and the center strip is cut 6 1/2" long.

The short strips are added between the square in a square blocks like shown on the left below and then the center strip is added like shown on the right below. Very easy!

The Garden of Eden block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #3229.

Tomorrow-North Carolina Star

Dutch Tulip Basket quilt block

Dutch Tulip Basket

December 19, 1933-Dutch Tulip Basket is the quilt pattern of the day in Nancy Cabot's column in the Chicago Tribune.

"If the quilter can find a blue in that delicately bright shade called "delft" or "old Dutch'' she will have found the perfect color for the tulip basket used in this design. The tulips can be in the bright shades of the natural flower. The effect is typical of Holland designs." This was the entirety of Nancy's column introducing her Dutch Tulip Basket quilt pattern.

This is another of her applique patterns that I have not been to find any examples of.

Tomorrow-Garden of Eden

Oriental Splendor quilt block

Oriental Splendor

December 18, 1933-Many Paths Quilt Changes Name; Oriental in Tone was the title of Nancy Cabot's column introducing her Oriental Splendor quilt pattern in the Chicago Tribune.

"Strangely enough this pattern, which originated in Connecticut in the earliest days of it's history and which was then called "Many Paths," is now called "Oriental Splendor." Stranger still, it is more oriental than early American in feeling. It is an all over pattern, best executed in two colors," she wrote. This block is modern looking even today.

This block is hexagon shaped and when the hexies are connected, an overall pattern is created. For that reason, I didn't make this block for my sampler quilt.



A two color antique Oriental Splendor quilt, purple and yellow, can be viewed here and a scrappy version can be viewed here.

The block can also be seen in this quilt catalog from 1933 on image 11. You'll need to scroll down the page to find the images.

Oriental Splendor can be found in Electric Quilt's program as #266a though not as a true hexagon block as Nancy showed.

This design is also known as Smoothing Iron. Here's a quilt in progress at Louisa Quilts.

                             

Fons and Porter have a video on making this block so if you have a membership to their website, you can view it.

Tomorrow-Dutch Tulip Basket

Rose of Sharon quilt block

Rose of Sharon

December 17, 1933-The Rose of Sharon quilt pattern was published by Nancy Cabot today.

She described this quilt as being "one of the seven bridal quilts the young girls of early New England took great pains to include in their trousseaux."

"The center flower is made in three shades of rose, the  buds in a deep rose shade and the leaves in the shade of green found adorning the natural flower," she wrote.

Though the Rose of Sharon is still a popular applique pattern design, I have not been able to find any quilts made using Nancy Cabot's design.

Tomorrow-Oriental Splendor

Indian Wedding Ring quilt block

Indian Wedding Ring

December 16, 1933-"Just a century and one year ago this interesting pattern was originated in Long Island, New York," wrote Nancy Cabot about today's quilt pattern entitled Indian Wedding Ring.

In 1832, the pattern was called simply "Burr." Nancy said that name was "probably out of admiration for the famous Aaron." I assume she is referring to Aaron Burr, our third vice president.

"As the popularity of the design spread westward this name was lost and through some obscure process of evolution it is now known as Indian Wedding Ring," she explained. Today we would more likely know  this pattern as Pickle Dish.

There are two copies of Indian Wedding Ring quilt patterns from the Progressive Farmer shown here. The first pattern is colored very differently than Nancy's pattern but the second one is similar to Nancy's.

There is an article on The Quilt Index website that talks about the history of the Wedding Ring quilt if you are interested in more history of this block. And here are several links to antique Indian Wedding Ring quilts-

Red and white from late 1800's

Red and white made by Confederate spy! from 1870

Blue and white with applique

Scrappy from 1915

Pink background from 1930

Modern looking from 1890

Brown, white and scrappy from 1930's

Yellow, white and scrappy from 1930's

I decided to make a 6" block to use up a bunch of tiny scraps. I knew it wouldn't be hard as long as I paper pieced the little sections. I'm glad I did. I love the look of this block! Since it is an overall interlocking design, it's not the best block to put in a sampler quilt. To make the block fit in a sampler quilt, I needed to inset the block in a background square of fabric that has a circle cut out of the center as you will see below. You can download my pattern here.

Here are the parts of each arc of the wedding ring. The shorter paper pieced section gets sewn on first as shown below.

The four arc sections are then sewn to the center piece-

The arcs are added to the center on opposite sides first as shown below. Once all four sides are sewn to the center, the center needs to be sewn into the square shown on the left. Match the centers of each side and it sews together easily.

Indian Wedding Ring can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #305.

Tomorrow-Rose of Sharon

Cubes and Tile quilt block

Cubes and Tile

December 15, 1933-Nancy Cabot's quilt pattern published in the Chicago Tribune today is called Cubes and Tile.

Though it "is one of the oldest we have, its effect is curiously modernistic. It lends itself well to the straight line designs of modern rooms," wrote Nancy.

As far as fabric selection goes, she felt it was "equally good looking in prints or plain colors, but the latter are preferred in modern interiors."

I have not been able to find any additional information on this block design. Maybe it goes by another name?





Cubes and Tile is not a complicated block to make if you break it's parts down into some easy familiar units and eliminate the "y" seams that Nancy Cabot's drawing suggests. The image below shows what parts I used. Notice the four patches, flying geese and square in a square units?

The single squares are cut at 1 1/4" square, the two patch and four patch blocks were made from 1 1/4" wide strips, the flying geese and square in a square blocks were paper pieced. The flying geese finish at 1 1/2" wide by 3/4" high and the square in a square finish at 1 1/2" square if you want to use a different method to make them.

 

I sewed my pieces together in sections rather than rows as shown above and then into rows as shown below.

Lastly, the three rows are sewn together. You can download my paper pieced pattern here.

Cubes and Tile can also be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #4026.

Tomorrow-Indian Wedding Ring

Coxcomb quilt block

Coxcomb

December 14, 1933-Coxcomb Quilt Is Seldom Seen Outside Museum was the title of Nancy Cabot's column introducing her Coxcomb quilt pattern.

The Coxcomb design is one of the earliest colonial patterns according to Nancy. "It is usually made in colonial prints on a cream background, as was the original."

I haven't been able to find any patterns for this Coxcomb applique design or any quilts made from it.

All I can add is that I assume the block was set on point in a quilt.

Tomorrow-Cubes and Tile

Crow's Foot quilt block

Crow's Foot

December 13, 1933-Today's quilt pattern is called Crow's Foot. Nancy Cabot sold it for "5 cents in coin or stamps" through her column in the Chicago Tribune.

When writing about the Crow's Foot pattern, Nancy said, "With a little imagination one can see the footprints of a crow in the block. A design like this should appeal to the thrifty. Each block can be of a different color-quite a boon to the woman who has many scraps from other quilting efforts." She felt it originated in early American days.

There is a Crow's Foot quilt pattern here at the Quilt Index that is attributed to Nancy Cabot but it is colored very differently than her newspaper drawing. The parts are the same but it looks quite different.

I made my 6" Crow's Foot block by paper piecing it. Check out my paper piecing tutorial to see my method of paper piecing, You can download my pattern here. These are the pieces of the pattern-

I sewed the parts together like this-

Sew the three rows together and you are done! Crow's Foot can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #4184.

Tomorrow-Coxcomb

Box of Pansies quilt block

Box of Pansies

December 12,1933-The Box of Pansies quilt pattern was presented today in Nancy Cabot's Chicago Tribune column.

Of this design she wrote the following, "The gay little pansy is an old fashioned flower, but its natural colors fit beautifully into modern schemes. in this pattern the flowers are gracefully arranged and the design permits each flower to be a separate color unit in itself."

This is another applique design that I can not find any additional information on.

Tomorrow-Crow's Foot