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Kansas Troubles & Irish Puzzles

The only difference between Kansas Troubles and Irish Puzzles is in the small half-square pieces in the quarter-blocks' corners. On a Kansas Troubles block, the corners are half squares, so that two colors meet at the point; in Irish Puzzles, there is a one-color square, creating an on-point square in the center of the block.

Both "troubles" and "puzzles" are pinwheels, but they're obvious kin to Bear Paw blocks. If you don't find the block you're looking for here, try there:

Three-tooth Kansas Troubles:

Kansas Troubles

World's Fair Puzzle

Four-tooth Kansas Troubles:

Kansas Troubles (Q Book)

Delectable Mountains

Star of Hope

Irish Puzzle:

Irish Puzzle

Irish Puzzle (LAC)

Barrister's Block

Bear's Paw (LAC)

Indian Trail (KCS)

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Three-tooth Kansas Troubles

Kansas Troubles

Kansas Troubles (LAC)

Kansas Trouble/Grand Right & Left/Lucasta's Block

The traditional Kansas Troubles block was first published in 1897 (Ladies Art Company, #210). We have no evidence for an earlier publication, but the block name probably dates so some 45 years before that.

The angry-looking block mirrored the violence between Jayhawks and Border Ruffians in antebellum Kansas.

In 1854, Kansas was still a territory waiting for statehood, but the Civil War loomed over its prospects. Northern politicians wanted Kansas to be a free state, but the South wanted it as a slave state. In the runup to that year's election, the "Jayhawks" (free staters) squared off against the "Border Ruffians" (slavery advocates) in bloody guerrilla fights that cost well over 100 lives. Voter fraud and intimidation were so awful that Kansas territory picked up the nickname "Bleeding Kansas."

The voting results were lopsided in favor of slavery. Free staters blamed corrupt Missourians who wanted to expand their personal empires into Kansas. Between then and 1861, both sides set up governments and denounced each other. Finally, in 1861, Union politicians accepted Kansas as a free state — just after the Southern senators ostentatiously marched out of the senate chamber.

The "Make It!" icon links to a page on quilt historian Barbara Brackman's Civil War blog. Besides a block pattern, Brackman gives a fuller history of its name.

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World's Fair Puzzle

World's Fair Puzzle World's Fair Puzzle
LAC #30
1897



World's Fair PuzzleLightning

World's Fair Puzzle was published in the LAC's 1897 catalog.

Designer Nancy Cabot called it Lightning in a 1934 Chicago Tribune. The name does suggest the layout that we show at right, with sawtooth rows zigzagging from lower left to upper right.

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Four-tooth Kansas Troubles

Kansas Troubles

Kansas Troubles (Q Book)
This turbocharged variation of Kansas Troubles popped up around 1970 in a volume called Q Book, Blue Ribbon Quilts, according to Jinny Beyer, who cites it in her Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns (2009).

The illustration shows a separate block for every square in the grid. Many quilters would substitute one large pink triangle for the multiple pink squares, like the LAC's block, above.

In Kansas Troubles, the inner and outer "claw" in each quarter-block is a half square with only a single half, and it's rotated 45 degrees from its neighboring triangle. The result is a center shape that we call a Turnstyle.

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Star of Hope

Star of Hope
Star of Hope
LAC #523
1928
The LAC's #523, published in 1928, Star of Hope is similar to 1/4 of a Kansas Troubles block, but it has an added fillip: two half-square triangles on the half of the block that is ordinarily a single patch. Why? That's just one more little mystery from the past.

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The Delectable Mountains

The Delectable Mountains The Delectable
Mountains
Aunt Martha ca. 1933This quarter-block is similar to the LAC's Star of Hope (#523). It's from an Aunt Martha publication, ca. 1933, which we include thanks to Jinny Beyer's Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns (2009).

Several quilt blocks are named Delectable Mountains. The name comes from Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory for the Christian life first published in 1678. It was the the second book on a typical frontier shelf, after the Bible.

In Pilgrim's Progress, a guy named Christian heads for the Celestial City (heaven) on a journey so full of obstacles that it would drop the jaw of an American Ninja. He meets a spectacular number of people and monsters named after character traits (Pliable, Hopeful, Giant Despair). As for the Delectable Mountains, when Christian sees them in the distance, he feels encouraged and happy.

One scene in Pilgrim's Progress turned up centuries later in The Wizard of Oz. To get to the Celestial City, Christian has to walk through the Enchanted Ground, where the air makes travelers drowsy, and those who sleep are lost. Remember that scene with the enchanted flowers, where Dorothy almost falls asleep forever? There ya go.

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Irish Puzzle blocks

Irish Puzzle

Irish Puzzle (three-color variation) Irish Puzzle

Irish Puzzle LAC #27 1897

Irish Puzzle variation

Climbing Rose/Flying Dutchman/Forest Path/Indian Trail/Kansas Troubles/North Wind/Old Maid's Ramble/Prickly Pear/Rambling Road/Rambling Rose/Storm at Sea/Tangled Tares/Weather Vane/Winding Walk/Blue & White

The LAC first published this two-color block as #27 in 1897. The names listed above are from Ruth Finley, who researched and published them in Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them (1929).

In 1934, Nancy Cabot of the Chicago Tribune added one more name: Blue & White. What colors were Cabot's block, we wonder? (Who's buried in Grant's Tomb? When is the Fourth of July?)

The three-color variation is also popular, although we're not aware of any specific name for it.

You'll note that in an Irish Puzzle's quarter-blocks, all the claws are oriented the same way. Where Kansas Troubles has a turnstyle shape in the middle, the Irish puzzle has an on-point center square.

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Barrister's Block

Barrister's Block Lawyer's Puzzle/The Saw

When this fearsome-looking block was first published in 1897 (LAC #63), it was in only two colors, but three-color variations use the same name.

Why is it named for British lawyers? We can only guess. If the block was invented by a Briton, nobody took note of it. Could the name predate the Revolution? When did we start using the word "lawyer" instead of "barrister" and "solicitor?" Barbara Brackman dates sawtooth rows back to the early 19th century (if not before).

Our hunch is that the block owes its name to alliteration. You know, repetition of a sound, as in "She sells seashells by the seashore." Perhaps there was a 19th century stagecoach bumper sticker: "We brake for alliteration."

We recently ran across a blog post that talks about the first American women who were lawyers. It also tells how to make the block. The "Make It!" icon links to the Barrister's Block page on GrandmothersChoice.blogspot.com.

In any case, Barrister's Block is a three-color Irish Puzzle with different block-division lines. Take a look:

No. 1 is an Irish Puzzle; No. 2 is a Barrister's Block.

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Indian Trail

Forest Path/Rambling Rose/ North Wind/Irish Puzzle

In 1931, the Kansas City Star published Indian Trail, a four-fabric Irish Puzzle variation that included prints.

Aside from specifying two "figured" fabrics, the block is identical to other Irish Puzzles.

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Bear's Paw

Bear's Paw
Flying Dutchman, Forest Path, Indian Trails, Irish Puzzle/North Wind/Old Maid's Ramble/Prickly Pear/Rambling Road/Rambling Roads/Rambling Rose/Storm at Sea/Tangled Tares/Weather Vane

Like so many other blocks, this one was named by the Ladies Art Company in 1897 (#162). The block has shared every name for the Irish Puzzle blocks above except Climbing Rose, Blue & White, and Kansas Troubles.

Here's the difference: Bear's Paw has a pair of seams in the center square. Irish Puzzle doesn't.

The block is a chameleon. Besides having 14 names, it resembles a Bear Paw, an Irish Puzzle, Kansas Troubles, and Indian Trail, among others.

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