My block of the day is Empire Star.
If you Google this block you will find is can be made entirely of half square triangles. Like this:
I didn't think this was a traditional block but I was wrong. BlockBase lists the source of this block as the Hearth and Home magazine. Barbara Brackman has a post about the quilt designer for Hearth and Home, Clara Stone.
Clara Stone's patterns were collected and published in 1906 in a booklet called Practical Needlework.
1906! That is twenty years before Ruby McKim and Nancy Cabot. Brackman says the McKim and Cabot most likely used Clara Stone's patterns as a source document.
The post has a number of Clara Stone's blocks, and then, almost as an afterthought -
You can have a copy of Clara Stone's innovative booklet as a free PDF here:
Jackpot! I downloaded the PDF and printed it out. It reminds me of the quilt block books I used to borrow from the school library fifty years ago; black and white drawings, no colours, no information, just page after page of quilt blocks.
I didn't find Empire Star in this booklet, however I did find Star of Empire. Unfortunately it's a completely different pattern.
Top left hand corner. How do you think that would be pieced?
And, what block would you choose for Star Wars Day?
