Nancy Cabot Sew Along starts today!

The Nancy Cabot Sew Along at Moore About Nancy officially starts today, eighty years after Nancy Cabot started publishing quilt blocks for the Chicago Tribune in 1933.  Today the blog tells a little history about Nancy and her newspaper column but starting tomorrow, a block will be posted each day on the day that it was published by her.  It won't just be a drawing of the block which is what she provided, I'll tell you how I think it should be made with the resources that we have available today so start looking through your scraps and be ready to sew!  

I'm planning on making a sampler quilt of 6" blocks but I already know that some of the quilt blocks are much too complicated to make at that size.  However, there are a lot to choose from since she wrote the column well into the 1940's!

Cactus Basket quilt block

The first quilt block she published, she called Cactus Basket.  It is made differently than what I find most commonly pops up when I "google" Cactus Basket quilt blocks however.  Check back tomorrow to start sewing along.  You may sign up for an email subscription on the Moore About Nancy blog.  You will receive a link in an email back to you that you must click on to verify that you really want to sign up.

BlockBase Sew Along #1774 Thunder and Lightning

Thunder and Lightning quilt block

Here is block #7 in the BlockBase Sew Along hosted by Electric Quilt. It is called Thunder and Lightning and is block #1774 in BlockBase.  I made this block 9" finished and used Triangles on a Roll to make the small half square triangle blocks.  Very fast and easy.  Lucky for me my quilting buddy had a roll and was willing to share! 

The flying geese units were made using Quilt in a Day's Small Flying Geese ruler.  A great little tool if you read and follow the directions.

Check here to see all the blocks made this week.






This block is attributed to Nancy Cabot as are the Prairie Flower, Pyramids and Independence Square blocks that were made previously in this Sew Along.  Seeing Nancy Cabot's name so often made me want to find out more about her.  I searched BlockBase and it came up with 749 blocks attributed to her!  I decided that I would like to make a sampler quilt from just her patterns and starting making blocks.  Here's what I've made so far-

With more research, I discovered that Nancy Cabot wrote and sold patterns for the Chicago Tribune in the 1930's.  I found those old newspaper articles and decided to try to make the blocks in the order that they were published.  If you think you might like to sew some blocks too, I will be hosting the Nancy Cabot Sew Along starting January 22, 2013, exactly 80 years after Nancy Cabot started publishing in the Chicago Tribune.

Join me on Tuesday at my new blog, Moore About Nancy, and learn a little about Nancy Cabot and a lot about the history of quilting t1hrough her eyes and mine.  Each day a new block pattern will be introduced so check back often

BlockBase Sew Along #2354 Crazy Pieces block

BlockBase #2354 Crazy Pieces quilt block

Here is block #6 in the BlockBase Sew Along by Electric Quilt. It is called Crazy Pieces and is block #2354 in BlockBase.  I made this block 8" finished and used paper piecing to construct it.  It is very easy to sew with just four identical sections.

This is the halfway point in the Sew Along.  If you haven't started yet, you can still catch up.  If you submit a block, you are entered to win a prize for that week.  You have until December 26th at noon to link up this week's block.  The next block will be posted January 7, 2013.  Go here to see all the blocks quilters have made so far. Happy Holidays!

Block Base Sew Along #1755 Prairie Flower block

BlockBase #1755 Prairie Flower quilt block-9"

Here is block 5 in the BlockBase Sew Along hosted by Electric Quilt.  It is called Prairie Flower and is attributed to Nancy Cabot.  I love this block!  It goes together easily using the stitch and flip method for the corners of each block.  I used 3 1/2" squares to make this a 9" finished size block.  I then used 2 1/2" squares to make a 6" block from much different fabrics!  Check out other versions of this block here.

BlockBase #1755 Prairie Flower quilt block-6"

BlockBase Sew Along Block #2049 Independence Square

#2049 Independence Square block

Here's my block #4 for Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along.  It is block #2049 called Independence Square and was published by Nancy Cabot in 1938.

I decided not to make it an 8" block like I have the rest of the blocks in this sew along.  The pieces in the center nine patch would have been tiny. I used 1 1/2" strips and ended up with a 9" block.

I won a bag of scraps in the BlockBase giveaway for linking up my Week 3 block. Here's what I got!

Check out all the Week 4 blocks by clicking here or link up your own block for a chance to win your own bag of scraps.  Block #5 will be posted on Monday.