The Sailboat Oklahoma

When I first saw this block in the 1930s quilt top I thought someone had made a mistake with the pattern.

Most sailboat blocks have the bow and stern facing away from the water, like this one.

But no, the odd sailboat is a pattern from the Kansas City Star.

Lovers of the sea will enjoy this small watercraft design. 

It came from Mrs. J. R. Barnes, Williams, Ok.

Kansas City Star   28 June, 1944

I don't know if the block is The Sailboat "Oklahoma" or The Sailboat (from) Oklahoma.  We will never know.
The maker of the quilt block was Sarah Fannie Brumbaugh.  She wasn't a farmer's wife, her husband Clyde Delvin was a driller in the mining industry.  Her daughter Ruth also made a block in this quilt top which I will show you next post.

I made two Sailboats Oklahoma (or Sailboat Oklahomas?) The first was nearly finished when I discovered a piece of fabric that was a better match to the original block, so I made it again.

Milady's Fan by Grayce

Grayce Wilson was the maker of this fan block.

Grayce Wilson lived in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania and made this block about 1938.  She was a farmer's wife with three sons, who all worked in the coal mines of western Pennsylvania.

According to BlockBase the name of this pattern is Milady's Fan, and it was published in one of the Aunt Martha series of pattern booklets.  With some Googling I found that Milady's Fan was in book #3500, "Easy Quilts".  Some more Googling located an Etsy seller with a digital download of "Easy Quilts", and very shortly I had a copy of the whole booklet.  What did we do before the internet?!

 

 

 

To make my own block I printed the BlockBase pattern onto freezer paper, ironed each piece onto my material and hand pieced the nine inch block.  It's an exciting challenge to find fabric to match the 1930s prints.  I took the original top on holidays and went through each quilt shop on the way with the top in tow.  My block is a good match for the colours, I doubt that I could find a similiar paisley print.

 

 

Milady's Fan