Paper Piecing Pinwheel Star

This week's block is a Pinwheel Star.

Isn't it pretty? The geometry is mind boggling, those diamonds don't have equal sides; and three pieces inside the square meet four pieces around the edge.  I used EQ7 to print the pattern BB3866 as templates, then copied the page three more times onto heavy paper to use as English paper piecing templates.  Here is the back view.

English paper piecing - EPP - isn't my favourite activity, it is slow, but the end result is beautifully neat.  My block is 14 inches square.  The original pattern was in The Patchwork Book 1931 as a nine inch block!

I am going to use this big block as the centre of a small quilt.  The fabric range is called Yarra Valley, by the amazing Australian designers Max and Louise. I love the tiny conversation prints.  Here are a few more blocks to go with the Pinwheel Star.

Remember how I retired in March? Me neither.  I thought, with retirement, that I would have lots and lots of time and the blog posts would almost write themselves.  However I have been working again.  I spent three weeks working for the Australian Electoral Commission with the recent Federal election.  Long hours, precision work but entirely fascinating. The election work reminded me how fortunate it was to live in a democracy where everyone has a vote, every vote is equal and every vote counts.

I'll get back to retirement next week.

The Patchwork Book 1931

I was searching for publication dates for the patchwork block Cracker a few weeks ago.  According to BlockBase it first appeared in 1931 in The Patchwork Book.  Serendipitously my watch list on eBay had a copy of The Patchwork Book and although the freight was three times as much as the book I managed to justify the purchase.  So here it is.

The Patchwork Book was published in Chicago by the Woman's World Service Library.  It is a catalogue of patterns that can be purchased by mail as well as some social commentary on quilt making. It is sixteen large pages, all in colour.

One of the most interesting things I found in The Patchwork Book is the naming of the patchwork blocks.  Names were not yet set in stone because not many quilt books had been published; patchwork designs still showed regional variation.

Cracker is in the bottom right hand corner.  The green block above it the Peek-Hole, now more commonly known as Necktie or Bowtie.  The blocks on the left hand side have similar unusual names; Dragon's Head (Churn Dash), Aeroplane (Monkey Wrench) and Signal Design (Goose Tracks).

And while you were stitching away you could reflect on these gems of wisdom from The Patchwork Book.

In Colonial times the art of patchwork quilt making reached a high perfection in America.  As our great-grandmothers were forbidden to wear bright colors, patchwork quilts became the medium of expression for their love of them, and into their fine stitches they wove their dreams, their aspirations.

Feminine fancy for this season decrees pillows - more pillows - and still more pillows.  When the demand is so unmistakable as this feminine, nation-wide interest in pillows, we feel we just have to do our part to make this sensible interest both an artistic and a practical adventure in home-making. 

These historic pillows which we present for your consideration on this page are as much a part of American life and tradition as is the American flag - for they show the spirit and patriotism of our home-making women during the last two hundred years. 

Better go make some pillows.