BlockBase Sew Along quilt block #2901.5 Broken Star

Broken Star quilt block

Here's my block #9 in Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along.  It's called Broken Star and was published by Nancy Cabot as are the Prairie Flower, Pyramids and Independence Square blocks that were made previously in this Sew Along.  

If you'd like to see more Nancy Cabot blocks, check out my blog called Moore About Nancy and check out the Nancy Cabot Sew Along.  A new block pattern is published each day.








I made this block 9" finished.  I paper pieced it because I thought that was the fastest way for me to make it.  It could certainly be cut and pieced easily also.

Check out all of the other blocks here.

BlockBase Sew Along #1401

It's week number 8 in Electric Quilt's BlockBase Sew Along!

This block is called Borrow and Lend and is block #1401 in BlockBase.  Looks like four spools to me!

Anyway, it's super simple and can be made from 5" squares.

I chose to keep the background fabric the same and make each "spool" a different color.  I just thought that worked better with the other blocks I have made so far.





To make a 9" finished block like mine, you just need a few basic parts-

1-5" X 2" strip for center
2-2" squares of background fabric
4-half square triangles of both fabrics-2" unfinished

I made my half square triangle units with Triangles on a Roll 1-1/2in Half Square triangles (finished size).  I really love those things!

Make 4 of these units and sew together like the block above.  Each section should be 5" unfinished.

You could vary the background fabric in each section for a different look!

To see all the other blocks made this week go here.

Seven Free block patterns

Wow! It's been a week already since I started the Nancy Cabot Sew Along.  Here are the blocks that have been posted so far-

Cactus Basket

Album

Fruit Basket

Georgetown Circle

Old Gray Goose 

Variable Star

Kentucky Cross Roads

If you are interested in receiving the block patterns each day, you can sign up for a daily email on that blog.

You must verify your subscription in an email that is sent after you sign up.  The response has been fantastic but a few people have not verified so I'm just sending out a reminder.

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