Sew On The Go by Michelle Renee Hiatt

Yeah!  Block 9 is here.  I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, as I've been fighting this Upper Respiratory Infection for days, and realized late Wednesday night that I had Block 10 ready to go, but missed 9.  Aargh!  Oh well, I completed here at the Strong House Inn, where I'm hosting my Quilting in Vermont Spring Retreat.   Block 9 - Federal Square So, enough about me,  onto the block.  Another great find (in my opinion). Federal Square, by Nancy Cabot, appeared in the Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1937.  This is a clever block, it has great lines and presents different illusions depending on the color and tone placement.  While I couldn’t find this block referenced to anyone else, nor under any other name, I did find blocks with similar compositions.   For instance, the Broken Star (Nancy Cabot, Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1936) and the Star of the East (Laura Wheeler, unidentified newspaper clipping) both have simil...

Woohoo!  Block 7 is  Rising Sun, published by Nancy Page in the Birmingham News , May 13, 1941.   Block 7 - Rising Sun I've searched several different reference materials, but I was unable to find another block that was similar.  I did give some thought to not including Rising Sun, but I loved it and I wanted to show the uniqueness of the block.  It really is striking with the Pickets/Quickets creating those tulips (my term) between the two-toned Quarter Square Triangles. We have a new technique in this week's block, it is those Pickets/Quickets , we are going to make them using our Wing Clipper !  It is a fabulous technique, you will love the accuracy! Let's talk color first.  For my first fabric selection, I went with a Split Complementary color plan.  I did cheat a bit and used the colors from that fabulous tulip print.  That is a technique that is really easy and will help some of you that claim you are color challenged...

This has been a crazy couple of weeks; I had the flu 2 weeks ago, followed by two back-to-back retreats.  Therefore I didn't get as many block samples completed as I would like, but I think you will get the idea from my two selections below.   I hope to have a few more completed this weekend and will share on the weekend.  Be sure to follow my  Sew On the Go Facebook Page  to keep up on mid-week posts! Block 6 - Eight Hands Around Block 6!  Can you believe we are an eighth of the way through the 48 Blocks?  Eight Hands Around, first appeared in the Ladies Art Company’s catalog in 1897.   In that same year, also appearing in the Ladies Art Company , but without the half square triangles in the corners, it was also published as Stars and Squares.  Through research, I discovered that it is believed this quilt block derived from Square Dancing.   I personally remember my grandmother placing this block in her com...

Thank you all for your patience! I know many of you have been wishing for Friday to be here!  Well, it is Friday!  I have the directions for Block 1!   If you read my Blog post the past Sunday, Why I love Sampler Quilts , I don’t think you will be surprised that I selected the Bear’s Paw Block (aka Hands of Friendship and many more names)!  I felt I needed to deliver the “twist” so, I went with a lesser known version.  I was so excited when I came across this version, published in an 1897’s Ladies Art Company Catalog.   The Bear’s Paw is made up of half square triangles, of two different sizes; the larger for the main part of the paw and the smaller for the toes of the paw.   Of course, we will be using are Tucker Trimmer 1 (the TT3 will work as well).   The half square triangles are going to be cut to whole number sizes, so make sure you are use the Tucker Trimmer side with the whole circle.   Basic instructions are provided i...