Block of the Week? It's Been Done Before

How do I chose a block of the week to share?  I usually select something from one of the (many) projects I am currently working on. Today I was pondering which block to do today, perhaps something from my Kansas City Star CD-Rom. There are hundreds to chose from in the KCS collection, after all they published one block a week for years and years .....

Eureka! It was a light bulb moment for me.  All I had to do was chose a block published this week, just a few years earlier.  As it is now 2019, I went back to 1929, ninety years ago, to see what was the block of choice for this week. 

Monkey Wrench

Another Monkey Wrench

Also a Monkey Wrench

Back to the Kansas City Star.  Here is Monkey Wrench, January 16th, 1929.

This quilt is one of the best examples of how an exceedingly simple block may be set together into an intricate pattern.  Pieced blocks of squares and triangles cut from the given patterns and pieced as shown, alternate with 10-inch plain blocks, dark in one row and light in another.  It really isn't hard to do, although each "monkey wrench" must be turned at a certain angle, as the diagram indicates.  Make cardboard cutting patterns a seam larger than the four patterns here given.  Mark around each with a lead pencil and cut a seam larger, sewing back to the pencil lines.

This block really works well as an allover pattern.  But I would need more than a week for that.