Hi Nola,
Your mystery block almost looks like this one, doesn't it? Except yours is all one color w/o the corner triangles.

http://www.quilterscache.com/E/EightSidesRoundBlock.html

Trina

Here's pics of a few more of the blocks. I counted them and there are 124 of them with enough partially finished ones to make another 24. Discovered tho' that there are two sizes of these - some of them are about an inch larger. That's OK tho' - I'll divvie them up by size and make a small quilt or wallhanging for each of my two kids.

I didn't press these blocks - just laid them on the scanner bed so they're a big wrinkled and misshappen in these pics.

Nola

blocks1a.jpg (36 Kb, 44 downloads)

Here's pics of a few more of the blocks. I counted them and there are 124 of them with enough partially finished ones to make another 24. Discovered tho' that there are two sizes of these - some of them are about an inch larger. That's OK tho' - I'll divvie them up by size and make a small quilt or wallhanging for each of my two kids.

I didn't press these blocks - just laid them on the scanner bed so they're a bit wrinkled and misshappen in these pics.

Nola

blocks1a.jpg (36 Kb, 40 downloads)

Nola-

If I dig up some of DS2's old droll cloths, would you post some more? LOL Those are way cool!

Nola -

Very nice blocks, Nola - and a lot of them.

In the pics, the centers look 3-D. Are they appliqued on after the four corners are sewn together? It ALmost looks like a bow tie variation without the corners.

Linda, I think the 3-D look (which I noticed too) comes from the fact that I didn't press the blocks, and just scanned them instead of taking an actual picture. I think the lid of the scanner rested on the seams causing the 3-D look.

Actually, the center squares are sewed in. From the number of blocks I found that are partially sewn, the maker sewed the hexagons on to opposite sides of the center square, then sewed the other two on - those involved sewing "Y" seams.

Nola

Nola-

The blocks seem to be for the most part, what I lovingly refer to as "old lady dresses", meaning they are predominately dark blue. That being a socially acceptable alternative to black for widows to wear. Or women of mature years- my grandfather outlived my grandmother by 21 days (they were late 80's, early 90's). Even though my grandmother was married, she would never have appeared in something colorful, it would be unseemly for a woman of her station.

She did have a few bright aprons (of course she would have replaced them with a clean apron of a more appropriate color before answering the front door!) I suspect the woman who pieced these blocks was of much the same ilk. So quite likely you are correct about them being pieced by someone who wasn't dressing children in lighter colors. Lighter colors are easier to date because the not only did the colors change in popularity but the motifs in the novelty prints did as well.

Question about the fabric and the weave- from the colors and the motifs, it could be 30's or 40's fabric, but it could just as easily have been 20's. The dark colors like that didn't change much. I have fabric left over from my grandmother's dresses. My mother can remember how she was as a child when Grandma made the dresses, so we can detemine a date for the fabric that way.

Are the fabrics on the sheer side side? Almost like a voile, a lawn or dimity? If so, they are more likey from the 20's when that fabric was more popular. I suppose during the depression and the war, when money was scare or everything was going to the war effot, people were more likely to select a weave for their garment fabric that would be more durable and hold up better in washing since it wasn't likely to be replaced.

Hope this helps you date them.

Meg, you are most likely right about the fabric. My guess is that most of it was from the 20's but there are a few pieces that were probably 30's. I've spotted a few that definitely are feed sack fabric. My hubby's grandparents were farmers so they certainly would have had access to feed sack fabric! Most of the fabric in these blocks is rather study, heavy (or maybe I should say "dense" fabric - tight weave.

I had a great-aunt who NEVER wore anything except black dresses! She relieved the severity of the black with white lacey collars! She was an old-time German lady, very strict and formal. And I had another great-aunt who was the total opposite (they were married to brothers). Aunt Gertie wore sensible dresses but in brighter colors, shorter, etc., and she did love to kick up her heels! She danced a jig when she was in her 90's! My grandmother, who was married to another of the 4 Schieferstein brothers) was sort of in-between - she wore darker colored dresses mostly, I suspect, because they didn't show the dirt. And big bright aprons! Even her "Sunday-go-to-meeting" dresses were sometimes pretty colors, but they were long - well below the knee, and she ALWAYS wore brown cotton stockings!

I do have some other blocks - not in this pattern tho' - that have that very thin lawn or dimity in them. I'll try to dig them out later and post pics of them too. Some of them are the Bear Paw block.

Gotta go for now - granddaughter is due to arrive in a few minutes. We're going to work on her first quilt!!

Nola

Well, ladies - I finally got the low-down on all those old quilt blocks. I hauled them out this evening and made my hubby sit still long enough that I could ask him about them. The ones I posted pictures of here - those were made by Josie (Burgess) King, my hubby's grandmother. He looked through them and started laughing, held one up and said, "This was Grandma's apron!" He said his grandmother gave the stack of blocks to his Mom as she wanted something to work on while she was living in Georgia during WWII. I looked more closely at the unfinished blocks and it's apparent that the fabric is somewhat newer and those are machine sewed where the older ones are hand pieced.

There are others in that box that are also machine pieced - a stack of 9-patch blocks, a few Bear Paw blocks, and some other ones I haven't yet identified.

Then I brought out the box of really old blocks that I bought at the estate auction. I knew these were from the Rains side of the family. Rod said the oldest ones, which are solid fabric, reds, greens and white were pieced by his great-grandmother, Adeline (Smith) Rains. These are a tree pattern. I thought it was "Tree of Life", but looking in a book called "1000 Great Quilt Blocks", they call it "Spruce". It's made of many tiny, tiny triangles - and these are all hand pieced with very small stitches. Will try to get a good picture in the next day or so to post.

Then there is a batch of red and white blocks - rather thin fabric. Rod said is was "bunting" fabric - like the flag bunting they hung out on the 4th of July. He may be right as I have a couple huge pieces of old bunting, and it is thin like that. Anyway, he said those blocks were pieced by his Uncle Kenny's first wife who's name was Frances Winders. She died in 1949 of polio. He said she pieced them while her husband was overseas during the war. I'm not sure what that pattern is either - but will try to get pictures.

The nice thing is, I not only have these wonderful old blocks, but I have pictures of the ladies who made them!! Adeline Smith Rains who pieced the very old tree blocks was born in 1865 and died in 1930. I've got to do something with those blocks, even tho' they are extremely fragile. Maybe I can put them together into a top and very carefully hand quilt it. Wouldn't ever dare to use it, but it would make a wonderful display piece.

Will take some pictures and maybe you ladies can give me some ideas of something to do with them.

Nola

Nola-

LOL I'd say not only is Rod a keeper, but sounds like he might have latent quilting "drone" (male bee) tendencies! LOL

How wonderful that he could shed some light on these treasures! Just getting more and more excited for you! Does Indiana have a state registry program? I think it is called Boxes Under the Bed. You should check into it, like you don't already have enough to do! LOL With all the information you have and pictures, these blocks and these quilters should be documented.