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Blackford's Beauty ***

Blackford's Beauty blocks are distinctive blends of chevrons and checkerboards, and their overall look is reminiscent of Single Irish Chains.

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Blackford's Beauty

Blackford's Beauty Ladies Art Company, #388, 1897 Mrs. Smith's Favorite Needlecraft Supply, ca. 1930 When the Ladies Art Company published Blackford's Beauty (#388) in 1928, it had four seamless chevrons. Quite likely that's how it appeared in the 1897 catalog, too. Nowadays, Blackford's Beauty is usually drawn with eight diamonds instead of four solid chevrons. The variation with diamonds was first published as Mrs. Smith's Favorite by the company Needlecraft Supply, usually known as the Old Chelsea Needlecraft Service, and it's easier to make than the LAC's original. It is that easier version that you'll find if you click on the blue "Make It!" box at upper right. The alternate names above are from Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Blocks, in which the block looks like Mrs. Smith's Favorite. Black Beauty was the name used in Nancy Cabot's newspaper column in 1933, and The Hunt, per Jinny Beyer, was in Farm Journal and Farmer's Wife about 1941. Below, the whole-quilt mockups with different color schemes show the design possibilities — and that's before you branch out with colors. Ladies Art Company, two colors Three colors Three colors Two colors Three colors Three colors

Endless Chain Endless Chain Endless Chain Aunt Martha: The Quilt Fair Comes to You 1933 Endless Chain Arrow Points The Quilt Fair Comes to You, a series of "Aunt Martha" booklets, included this block in 1933. The only difference between Endless Chain and the blocks above is the color scheme, which emphasizes the three-piece chain in each corner of the block. The name Arrow Points came along a year later, in a Nancy Page column in the Birmingham News. We thank Jinny Beyer and her Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns (2009) for this information. The colors in the block at left are based on Arrow Points in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Blackford's Beauty Look-alikes Blackford's Beauty blocks have rectangles and squares in each corner. The following blocks have some variety of nine-patch. You can make any of the blocks below from the Mrs. Smith's Favorite pattern with teensy adaptations.

Stepping Stones Stepping Stones Stepping Stones Kansas City Star, 1931 Stepping Stones (KCS), two colors Good Cheer If our copy of Clara Stone's 1906 Practical Needlework included a bit more detail, we could call this block Good Cheer. As it is, we can't be sure we'd be showing Stone's block's seams accurately. That's why we're using an apparently identical block published by the Kansas City Star in 1931. It was in two colors and called Stepping Stones. We've reversed the dark and light colors to show the seamlines. In 1948, KCS designer Eveline Foland suggested alternating Stepping Stones with plain blocks.

Arrowhead Stepping Stones (Hall) Arrowhead Hall, 1935 Stepping Stones Seamstress Carrie Hall found Arrowhead during her quilt-research travels in the 1920s and 1930s. The block she stitched up as an example is now in the Spencer Museum at the University of Kansas. It is published in Carrie Hall Blocks (Havig, 1999). We've used this block's unique seamlines to show the possibilities of a simple change in colors. Four squares of the green mockup are in a third, darker color, and the chevron shapes are gone.

Stepping Stones Stepping Stones (1948), three colors Stepping Stones Kansas City Star, 1948 Stepping Stones (1948), three colors In 1948, the KCS republished its Stepping Stones block with the same pattern template as in 1931 but with an illustration that didn't match it. We've reproduced the pattern in the illustration at left. Like the 1931 version, the 1948 block was published in only two colors, but we branched out here.

Arrowheads Arrowheads Arrowheads McCall's, web version We first saw this block on McCall's Quilting website, without attribution. Using the same pattern as the Kansas City Star's Stepping Stones, the block's creator chose colors that create a pinwheel effect. Now, you can find free instructions online on the Quilting Daily site. Just click on the blue "Make It!" link at upper right.