Block of the Month for September

I would like to begin by apologizing for the long delay in getting anything up for September. I did not mean for that to happen, even though I was taking some time off from the list. As most of you know, I changed operating systems during that period, and ran into some real problems in "re-learning" how to make web pages. Several Onions are working on BOM's for us, so that all of the input is not strictly from me. This block is from Lee Ann Lucier. It is quite a famous old block. I think you can figure its history out. I'm sorry there is only the one September block right now, but I will try to get make-up blocks up in October.

Captain Dick

WORLD'S FAIR BLOCK

12"

Here is one of my favorite blocks. The World's Fair Block is very easy and

quick to make.

Rotary Cutting:

Cut two 2" strips of blue by WOF (width of fabric)

Cut two 2" strips of white by WOF

Cut eight 3 1/2" squares of blue

Strip Piecing the small 4 patch units:

Sew one 2" blue strip and one 2" white strip together (right sides

together). Repeat for the second blue strip and white strip.

Press seams towards the blue or press seams open, whichever you prefer.

Trim the selvage from one strip to even the end. Cut the strip into 3 1/2"

segments. Repeat with second strip until you have 16 blue/white segments.

Sew one blue/white to one white/blue segment (right sides together, match

the seam).

Press.

Repeat until you've made eight 3 1/2" four patch blocks.

Double 4 patch units:

Sew one 4 patch unit to one 3 1/2" blue square, right sides together. Repeat to

make 8 segments.

Press towards the blue square or press open.

Sew one 4 patch/blue to one blue/4 patch, right sides together. Repeat to

make four double 4 patch blocks.

Press.

Sew the rows:

Sew two double 4 patch blocks together to make the top row. Repeat for the

bottom row.

Press.

Sew the top and bottom rows together, as shown in the first pictue, press, square up the block, and you're

done!

Here's what a quilt would look like using only the World's Fair Block:

This block also looks nice using three colors.

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Here, at last, are two additional September Blocks:

These blocks are based on the "Spool" pattern. I originally planned to simply post a 12" spool block, but in that large size it just looked too simple, too stark to go with the many other blocks we have had. I fell back on the basic pattern of our first TO Mystery Quilt (still posted in The Caves of Mystery in the Historic Treadleonia Theme Park). There are many things that can be done with this basic concept. Here I show two… one is called "Spools and Shuttles" and I sewed one of these up for you, but without the usual BOM border. The other is called "Four Spools".

Sorry for the fuzzy photo… This is a 12" Spools and shuttle block. It can be used horizontally or vertically. You can see a number of quilts made with this block concept in The Caves of Mystery in the Historic Treadleonia Theme Park. One of the very neat possibilities of this pattern is a variation that ends up looking very much like a double wedding ring quilt, but with no curved seams. Check it out. Anyway, to make this particular variation, you will need to make 16 half-triangles measuring 2.5". (Remember to cut them oversize and trim them down.) Then cut 8 background squares 2.5". Finally, cut four strips of pattern fabric 2.5" x 6.5". Lay all of this out in the pattern shown. Note: It won't look right because of the long strips not having seam allowances in the middle, but when you assemble it, it will come out fine. I found this pattern easiest to follow if I sewed the rows vertically, rather than horizontally or in four corner units. Anyway, hope you like this one.

This variation is called either Four Spools or Quad Spools. It is courtesy of Vicki Rahliegh in NC. I don't think you should need much instruction on it at this point, if you have been making the blocks as we go along. In this picture, they show all 2.5" squares, rather than making some of the pieces as strips. Either way works.

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