QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Saturday, September 10, 2016

Morris Hexathon 19: Woodford Green

Morris Hexathon 19: Woodford Green by Becky Brown


I named this week's hexie Woodford Green for one of William Morris's early homes, the place his father is buried. William was born March 24, 1834, to well-to-do parents at Elm House, Clay Hill. He was the eldest surviving son of Emma Shelton Morris and William Morris, a businessman who had luckily invested in mining stocks that allowed him and his family of nine children to live well.

Drawing of Morris's birthplace Elm House
by E. H. New 

Morris was raised in what is now the northeast edge of London but when he was a child it a rural landscape.

Woodford on the right between forest land and the River Lea; 
WalthamStow on the left

 Elm House is gone, as is the family's next home, Woodford Hall, where they moved when William was 6. Woodford's fifty acres were also bordered by Epping Forest, a wilderness at his door.


In 1847 Morris Senior died at the age of fifty. Emma
moved her children to Water House in Walthamstow, which still stands.

Water House is the home of the William Morris Gallery,
which we'll discuss next week.

William Morris the elder's grave 
at Woodford Green

in St. Mary's Churchyard.


19: Woodford Green by Ilyse Moore

Emma Shelton Morris 1805-1894

Morris's mother Emma spent the last years of her life in Hertfordshire in Much Haddam, where she is remembered by tombstone designed by Philip Webb.


"Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty."


Legal notice of claims to Emma's estate.
Her son William outlived her by about two years.

See portraits of Morris's parents when they were young here:
http://www.wmgallery.org.uk/collection/search-the-collection-65/portrait-miniature-of-william-morris-senior-h29-11-1824/search/william-morris/page/2

Woodford Green by Becky Brown---another version


The hexagon with curved piecing was published in the Kansas City Star in 1938. It is BlockBase #273. 

 I modified it so it's a triangle plus two curved shapes that make a diamond.



Pattern for an 8" Hexagon
(4" sides)

To Print:
  • Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11". 
  • Click on the image above. 
  • Right click on it and save it to your file. 
  • Print that file out 8-1/2" x 11". The hexagon should measure 4"on the sides.
  • Adjust the printed page size if necessary.
  • Add seams when you cut the fabric.
Now you may not like curved seams but do remember this is a Marathon! You can't wimp out at mile 19. 
If you must I have two options:
One: Use fussy cutting to imitate a curved seam as Becky did in Block #8. There is not curved seam in her block.
Becky's Block #8 all straight seams.
If you had the right size polka dot.......

Two: I've been giving you alternate suggestions all along so go back and find a block you'd rather make.

 One More Inspiration

Lily Quilts did a similar Hexalong in 2011.
See her tutorial on drawing and piecing curved seams at this post:


3 comments:

  1. Thank you for this Barbara. Nice to see a picture of St Mary's - my brother is the current Rector there and earlier this year we visited The William Morris Gallery so I am looking forward to next weeks treat.

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  2. My brother says that the plaque is on the wall of the Church Hall.

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  3. Extraordinarily beautiful blocks this week, I thought.

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