Getting Closer to Noon and Night
Check this out:
It’s a complete Noon and Night block, or a variation of it. I say “variation” because, as with many quilt block patterns, the same block could be called by several names, or the same name could be applied to more than one version of the block. The March 4, 2013 blog post from the PatchPieces blog has the most information I’ve been able to find on the provenance of this block. That blogger had a quilt from her aunt featuring this block. When she recreated it in EQ, she rotated the larger star points. Therefore, when I drew it in EQ, I also rotated the star points. However, when I looked in the Jinny Beyer quilt encyclopedia—as well as at the picture of this blogger’s aunt’s quilt—I noticed that the larger star points mirror-image each other, like this:
I will have to ask my friend from church if I can see what the block looks like in her quilt. I like both versions, but I think the mirror-image version is the “official” one, seeing as it is the one in the Jinny Beyer book. Finding the original Kansas City Star pattern from 1934 would put an end to the debate once and for all, but that’s like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. (The few books containing reprints of those Kansas City Star patterns don’t include this one.)
It took me two days and much experimentation to get to this point. Some of that was due to my spatial deficits, but I am also considering turning this into a publishable quilt pattern. Therefore, I went slowly and deliberately, making many notes, and asking myself, “What would be the best way to present this information?”
This is how I got to the finished quilt block after drawing it in EQ8, with notes on potential construction issues:
EQ8 will print out templates. Templates are okay, but time-consuming to make and use. They were, without a doubt, the way the original quilt was constructed.
EQ8 will also print out rotary cutting instructions, but only for the units in a block that lend themselves to rotary cutting. This block has four identical quadrants, and each quadrant is comprised of six units (a total of seven pieces, but one piece is used twice). Five of the six units are standard shapes—triangles, squares, and a trapezoid—but one piece is a weird shape and does not show up on the rotary cutting instructions.
HOWEVER, the piece that doesn’t show up on the rotary cutting instructions is basically a triangle with one of the side points cut off. Furthermore, it starts out the same size as one of the other triangles in the block, so, theoretically, it could be included in rotary cutting instructions with an additional step added for cutting off that side point to make the required shape.
What size quilt block yields rotary cutting instructions that make the most sense? In EQ8, it’s possible to resize a quilt block with a click of a button. I experimented with 8”, 9”, 10”, 12”, 14”, and 15” block sizes. The rotary cutting instructions for some of those block sizes got really wonky; no one wants to be cutting 6-3/16” HSTs. (I was discussing this with the husband and he said he gets plans like that from architects all the time, with foundation measurements like 25’ 8-15/16”, which I suspect is a side effect of using CAD software and not common sense and a tape measure.)
EQ8 gives the option for rounding or not rounding. I always prefer to make my units and blocks a bit bigger and trim them down. However, I’ve got to be careful that rounding doesn’t propagate errors throughout the entire block, because 1/8” can mean the difference between nice, sharp points and points that get chopped off, or cause the framing carpenter to say bad words about the concrete contractor.
Through much trial and error, I discovered that the units have to go together in a specific order. At one point in the process, I did wonder if this was one of those blocks that would be best constructed with foundation piecing. I hate foundation piecing. (That technique relies on good spatial perception skills, so hate is not too strong a word.) If foundation piecing had been the only (or best) way to make this block, it never would have made it off my cutting table.
I made each quadrant separately—and oversized—and trimmed them down before sewing them together as a four-patch. This is Mary Poppins piecing (“Enough is as good as it gets”), although it’s pretty darn good for flying by the seat of my pants. It occurred to me, while sewing, that the quilters of the 1930s and 1940s who made quilts using this pattern likely weren’t seeking perfection. They used templates and cut the units out of whatever scraps of fabric they had without regard to grainlines, and if their points didn’t line up exactly—well, that quilt was still going to keep someone warm.
I’ve got plenty of Kona scraps, so the plan is to make three more blocks and sew them together into a wallhanging. Making three more blocks should give me plenty of opportunity to make sure my math and cutting/sewing instructions for the block are accurate (and decide which version to use), and then it’s on to designing an actual quilt. I like the idea of scrappy bright fabrics on a black background, although the all-Kona solids is a nice look, too.
Just for giggles, I drew the (much simpler) Noon and Light quilt block in EQ8:
You can see that the trapezoid/triangle unit takes up one entire half of the quadrant, and the points of the star are identical. This would be a snap to rotary cut and piece, but where is the fun in that?
In related sewing news, the black American Made Brand cotton I ordered arrived and has been washed and pressed. I picked up the large set of stays and pattern for the full size Poppins bag at the quilt store in town. Klum House finally got the color of green waxed canvas I wanted in stock, so I ordered that for the Slabtown backpack pattern. When I am not hauling produce in from the garden, I’ll have plenty to keep me busy.