Pieced Eight Point Star quilt block

Pieced Eight Point Star

December 11, 1933-Today's quilt block, the Pieced Eight Point Star, is the block used in the quilt entitled Star of the Bluegrass which won first place in the 1933 Sears National Quilting Contest! This is not the first pattern Nancy Cabot published in the Chicago Tribune that was a winner at that fair. Bleeding Hearts, Yellow Rose, Century of Progress, The Original, Autumn Leaves, Colonial Rose, Tea Rose, Louisiana Rose, Iris, and Delectable Mountains are other patterns Nancy published in 1933 that were also winners at the fair.

The color placement within the block used in the Star of the Bluegrass quilt is different than Nancy's which gives it a much different look. The prize winning quilt was green and white and has not been seen since 1934.



There was much scandal about this quilt as it was later learned that Margaret Caden,the winner of the contest, had hired women to make the quilt for her. The quilt was given to Mrs. Roosevelt at the end of the fair. Margaret Caden had a duplicate of the quilt made that has been handed down in her family. To read more history about this quilt, go here.

There is a close-up of the sample pieces of Margaret Caden's Star of the Bluegrass quilt here and a picture of the duplicate quilt can be seen here. A quilt made at a later date based on Caden's design can be viewed here.  There are several quite interesting Pieced Eight Point Star quilts here. Notice that this star block is also called Blazing Star, Diamond Star and Touching Star in these antique quilts.

Nancy Cabot wrote, "This design is easy to piece, although this may not be apparent at first glance, and it gives the quilter an opportunity to utilize imagination and skill in color blending."

To make my 6" Pieced Eight Point Star quilt block, I combined paper piecing and templates. I paper pieced the diamonds and cut the white background pieces using templates. The diamonds start out as two pieces and are sewn together to make the diamond as shown below-

Here are the diamonds all sewn together and all the background pieces cut.

From this point there are alot of "y" seams to be sewn. Don't forget to leave the 1/4" seam loose so you can sew in the triangle pieces. I joined the pieces like this-

Each side is sewn together like shown above going clockwise from the top, so the diamonds are sewn together in sets of two and the triangle pieces are sewn in next like shown on the right. Two of these new pieces are sewn together like shown on the bottom left.

The corner squares are sewn in next like shown above. Those two halves are then sewn together like shown below and the last two squares are sewn in. You can download my pattern here.

This block design was called Morning Star by a Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife publication as shown here on image 16. This block can be found in Electric Quilt 7 as Blazing Star if you have that program.

Tomorrow-Box of Pansies

Rose of Tennessee quilt block

Rose of Tennessee

December 10, 1933-Nancy Cabot publishes yet another applique rose pattern today! This one is called Rose of Tennessee.

The pattern originated in Tennessee as the name implies according to Nancy. She said a quilt of "this design is a valuable addition to one's collection."

Regarding the colors to be used, she suggests the Rose of Tennessee pattern "is particularly effective when made in two shades of yellow, but the woman of taste who wants something different can choose a color scheme of her own."

I chose to use Nancy's suggestion and drew my block as such. Since this is an applique design, I did not make it for my sampler quilt.


This is another design that I have not been able to find any additional information on.

Tomorrow-Pieced Eight Point Star

Crocus Wreath quilt block

Crocus Wreath

December 9, 1933-Crocus Wreath is the name of the quilt pattern Nancy Cabot introduced today in her Chicago Tribune column.

"If you begin now you can greet the spring with your own crocus-on a quilt , instead of a plot of earth-but the uplift in your spirits might be just the same. The brave little flowers, the first to bow to the coming of spring, appear in this quilt pattern against a background of shell pink or pale yellow, their white heads nestling in deep green leaves."

That was Nancy's entire column about her Crocus Wreath applique pattern. I have not been able to find any patterns or quilts using this pattern.

Tomorrow-Rose of Tennessee

Illinois Road quilt block

Illinois Road

December 8, 1933-"Illinois Road," we are glad to announce, is a brand new design created by a clever needlewoman of this state." This was the opening sentence of Nancy Cabot's column in the Chicago Tribune when publishing her pattern using the Illinois Road quilt block.

It is a very easy pattern and was originally made in blue and white so I decided to follow that tradition in my 6" block for my sampler quilt.

To make the Illinois Road block at 6" finished, you need four 2 1/2"  squares and twenty 1" X 1 1/2" pieces of white fabric and twenty 1" X 1 1/2" pieces of blue fabric. You can also make strip sets using 1" strips of white and blue fabric.  You need 30" of strips. It doesn't need to be all in one piece but it certainly can be.

I used 1" X 6" strips and cut them into four pieces as shown on the left below. These four pieces make a 2 1/2" four patch that is alternated with a 2 1/2" white square.

Illinois Road is a nine patch block that goes together like this-

The Illinois Road block can be found in Electric Quilt's Blockbase program as #1615.

I have not been able to find any old patterns or quilts made using the pattern.

Tomorrow-Crocus Wreath