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FieldGuidetoQuilts.com

Objects that breathe or beat

Below, blocks that show animals, people, and hearts. Ararat Giddap The Dog Quilt June Butterfly Long Pants Ferris Wheel Hearts & Gizzards Lover's Knot (Stone) Lover's Knot Bleeding Heart Bleeding Heart

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Ararat

The Elephant Ararat

A 1931 Kansas City Star included this asymmetric block, basing it on a resident of Kansas City's Swope Park Zoo. It is 14 squares wide and 9 squares tall.

We've used the Star's colors—gold, purple, and white—in the block at left. Ararat quickly took on Republican colors, and a Democratic donkey followed.

An entire quilt made from this block might be a bit much. But like Giddap and The Dog Quilt, Ararat would make a wonderful border block for any child's quilt.

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Giddap

The Star's "very democratic donkey," 13 squares wide by 15 tall, followed Ararat by a mere five weeks. "The ingenious ladies' aid of the Sedalia, MO Congregational Church . . . made a G.O.P. elephant out of [Ararat]," the Star said. "Now they are calling for a Democratic running mate." Ararat was published in June 1931 and Giddap in July.

The ladies intended to use the blocks for cookie cutters to use for "window sales" during the upcoming presidential campaign, with Al Smith up against Herbert Hoover.

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The Dog Quilt

The Dog Quilt
KCS, 1936
A Scottie Quilt for Boys

Kansas City Star,which published it in 1936.

The recommended colors were orange and brown on white.

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June Butterfly

June Butterfly




June Butterfly This graceful little applique block captivated us when we saw it, so we've shared it with you. Now if we can only remember where we found it....stay tuned.

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Long Pants

Long Pants Getting out of short pants was once a rite of passage for a boy. From his posture alone, it's clear that the boy in this quilt block is thrilled to be wearing grown-up pants for the first time.

The Chicago Tribune published this block by Nancy Cabot block in 1933. Our graphic is traced from an image of the block.

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Ferris Wheel

Ferris Wheel This unusual 1959 block is in this section because it is so much like the blocks that follow — essentially, a Lover's Knot with a piano key edge around its center. It's from the Kansas City Star.

It's really very pretty as a whole quilt. All but the background pieces were supposed to be random prints, arranged in pairs of dark and light around the center.

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Hearts &Gizzards

Hearts & Gizzards
Ladies Art Company
#125, 1897 Hearts & Gizzards doesn't look much like a heart, and we don't know much about gizzards. Still, the colorful name makes this block a go-to for any quilter with an old-fashioned bent. For that, we can thank the Ladies Art Company, which published it as its #125 in 1897.

The block creates a look reminiscent of a lattice, as do the Lovers' Knot block, below.

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Lover's Knot

Lover's Knot— evolved



Lover's Knot, 1906 Lovers' Knot
Stone, 1906 Lovers' Knot
Modern dimensions Lover's Knot was published in 1906 in Clara Stone's Practical Needlework.

It was a jazzed-up version of Hearts & Gizzards; the blocks' shapes were almost identical. Since then, the block's pieces have evolved into the familiar heart shape.

Both Lover's Knot variations and Hearts & Gizzards are lattice blocks made up of four rotated quarters.

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Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart
Bleeding Heart
KCS, 1950 Bleeding Heart The yellow mockup is done in the colors recommended by the Kansas City Star reader who sent it to the paper, which published it in 1950. The contributor designed it as patchwork, but the Star suggested that appliqué would work too.

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Bleeding Heart

Bleeding Heart


Bleeding Heart came into print as #501 in the 1928 Ladies Art Company catalog. Remember, that was the jazz age, and the Art Deco movement was in full swing. Doubtless quilters were hungry for curves and challenges.

In groups, the block creates a pattern reminiscent of four-petaled flowers inside medallions.