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Mariner's Compass ***

A basic Compass Rose

ElfQrin / CC BY-SA https: //creativecommon s.org /licenses/by-sa/3.0

We've seen "maps" on line that show only a country's outline. They're "maps," not maps. Until that travesty climbed out from under the lazy rock, every map featured a compass rose, aka navigator's star — a circular graphic that uses four or eight points to show, at the least, which way is North.

A Mariner's Compass, or Mariner's Star, could plausibly be used as a compass rose, except that it's likely to have 16, 32, 64, or even 128 points. Usually they're made big enough to cover a quilt top.

Stars called Sunbursts tend to have large center circles and comparatively shorter points, and the points aren't necessarily in multiples of four.

Mariner's Compass Single Sunflower Russian Sunflower Chips & Whet-stones Chips & Whet-stones Rising Sun Slashed Star

Mariner's Compass Mariner's Compass Mountain Mist This 32-point block has split points with two colors each — a challenging block designed for expert quilters. Mountain Mist, which was and is a batting company, reportedly published this pattern, but we don't know when. Click on the "Make It!" icon at upper right for a diagram. At right, a real-life antique quilt sold on eBay a few years ago by eBay seller French72. Batting, by the way, is the sheet of puffy stuff that goes between the front and back of a quilt.

Mariner's Compass (Mountain Mist) Photo: eBay seller French 72. Used with permission.

Single Sunflower Single Sunflower Single Sunflower This relatively simple 16-point star is from the Ladies Art Company's 1897 catalog (#367). We've posted a diagram; click on the icon at right.

Russian Sunflower Russian Sunflower Russian Sunflower Rising Sun/Brave Sunflower/Oklahoma Sunburst Russian Sunflower, from 1932, was designed by the Kansas City Star's Evelyn Foland. Foland put in seams outside the circumference of the star. Those four seams are not there to help quilters make the block: The points are solid pieces that match up at the point with the quarter seams. Seam would have to meet seam to simplify construction. Rather, the design seems to be a way to add space between the circles. Compare the mockup to that of Single Sunflower, above, and see what you think. The Star republished the block twice, as Oklahoma Sunburst and Brave Sunflower, in 1933 and 1951.

Chips & Whetstones Chips & Whetstones Chips & Whetstones Finley wrote in 1929 that this block name "rings with the masculine sound of a good sharp ax, necessary for the splitting of rails and firewood." We add to that Emerson's statement that "Every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection." A quilter would regard her block the same way. There are several Chips & Whetstones variations. This one is from Jinny Beyer's Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns, which cites the book Quilts of Virginia. The block dates back to about 1840. We've added an applique version of the block below.

Chips & Whetstones Chips & Whetstones Chips & Whetstones This time-honored block is a one-fabric appliqué within a circle. The circle, sewn into the quilt top, is the only part of the block that is pieced. Our source is Finley's 1929 Old Patchwork Quilts. The quilt in the book is not dated. Quilt researcher Carrie Hall stitched up a similar block for a collection that is now part of the Spencer Museum at the University of Kansas. The difference is that Hall's version has six points per quarter block.

Rising Sun Rising Sun Rising Sun Mariner's Compass Ruth Finley, in Old Patchwork Quilts (1929), included a photograph of a quilt with no fewer than nine of these 64-point showstoppers, each 30 inches across. Spaced between the compasses, which were pieced in orange and white, were appliquéd garlands. The quilt was made about 1800 on Long Island, NY.

Barbara Brackman, in Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, cites a 1957 catalog of the Shelburne Museum of Shelburne, Vermont for the name Mariner's Compass. We've seen several Rising Suns at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Talk about overachievers! But then, what else can you do for a challenge when you keep improving your skills? That's one of the things that keeps quilters coming back. We've seen quilts that were made from fabric hand-dyed by the quilter before going into an exquisite original design. We've seen at least one Baltimore Album quilt made only of the same supplies used by quilters of the mid-19th century. It's quilt pox. Highly contagious. You've been warned.

Slashed Star Slashed Star Rising Sun/Sunburst/Twinkling Star/Mariner's Compass Slashed Star The Ladies Art Company's Slashed Star (#266, 1897) was the first published mariner's compass block we've seen. The block was named Mariner's Compass only in 1980, in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, according to Brackman's Encyclopedia. In 1937, designer Nancy Cabot presented the same star in the Chicago Tribune under the three other names listed above, along with the mind-boggling remark that the block is easy to piece. We'd love to hear from anyone who agrees that stitching this 64-point block is a breeze. We feel sure that person is Superman's more talented sister. Below, a four-color version of the same block.

Slashed Star in four colors Slashed Star in four colors