Four Tricky T's

 

Four T's

Nancy Cabot's 'Four T's' design appears simple but takes a little bit of fussing to make it well.  

 

 

 

The letter T lends itself to a great number of interesting quilt pattern, all of them pieced.  “Four T’s” also is known as the “T Block” or “Imperial T.”  It is one of the oldest pieced patterns and was evolved from an effective pattern known as “Shoo Fly.”  Pieced in red and white, the blocks are set together with five inch bands of white between blocks, and surrounded by a five inch border and a one-half inch bias binding.  This block is excellent for a young man’s or boy’s room. The finished coverlet contains 30 pieced blocks and measures 90 by 107 inches.

Nancy Cabot               The Chicago Tribune      January 17, 1938

 

 

This Four T's block was made by Nancy Paisley in a friendship quilt from Schuyler County, Illinois in 1933.  Nancy was the typical farmer's wife and was a grandmother when she made this block.

When researching a friendship quilt you always think, I wish I knew more about the quilt makers.  In Nancy's case I did find out more about her family in Newspapers.com. Unfortunately, there is no happy ending this time.  Nancy had two sons, Everett and Dwight, and Dwight's wife Margaret was not a happy woman.

This incident happened in 1921, and poor Margaret spent the rest of her life in the Peoria State Hospital until her death in 1941.  Sometimes the "good old days" weren't so good.