Album Block

This simple block is usually called Album (Barbara Brackman 2414).  Ruby McKim says:

The album quilt is a real old-timer.  Its original purpose was for a gift for a bride-to-be.  A group of friends would get together and each would piece a block and embroider her name upon it!

Amazing!  The embroidered name here is Maude Laughlin.  Maude was aged 55 in 1937 but she had only been married for a few years.  Her husband was George Washington Laughlin, a widower, and they married sometime after 1930.

I got a lovely email from Penny:

 I was very happy to see your quilt block yesterday from the 1937 signature
quilt in Down Under and went out and bought some ink for my printer. Printed off the templates from BlockBase and had the block made by bedtime.

Well done Penny!  Any other block makers out there?

A Basket of Diamonds

Today I received the new issue of Down Under Quilts in the letterbox.

I am very pleased to say that that my 1937 Signature Quilt made is on page 13!  How cool is that!

I posted about purchasing this quilt on my other blog.  It's a signature quilt, so that's most important to me, but I also was drawn by the mix of 1930s blocks - I love album quilts too.  And because I like making quilts even more than collecting them, I started to reproduce a copy of this one in 1930s reproduction prints.

Where to begin? Begin at the beginning, in the top left hand corner.  This block was an easy one to make.  It's No. 725 in Barbara Brackman's BlockBase, and the published names are Basket of Diamonds, Flower Basket, Flower Pot, Jersey Tulip, Rainbow Cactus, The Disk and Century Plant.  I think Basket of Diamonds will do.

The block was made by Sarah Cannon.  Sarah married Rev. Thomas Jackson Cannon in 1884 and their first homestead was in Entiat Valley, Washington.  Thomas Cannon was a peacemaker between the white settlers and the Indians.  Sarah and Thomas's daughter Dema was the first white child born in the area.  In 1937 Sarah was 72 years old and a widow.

This is my Basket.  Finding matching prints is more difficult than I anticipated but I think these have worked well.  I'm making 10 inch blocks, the original quilt has blocks between 11 and 12 inches.