Southern Spin: Extra Block For Fearless Piecers

 

Rhoda Ann Marshall, Arizona Project & the Quilt Index

I posted this block on my Facebook page to announce the Southern Spin block-of-the-month pattern  that will appear here the rest of the year on the last Wednesday of the month.

See the post with the first block here: 

 https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2022/03/southern-spin-1-circle-saw.html

It was just an image of a Southern flavored wheel with spiky points---it's not one of the nine blocks I'd planned. Too complicated ---for you to stitch--- for me to draft.

Another of Rhoda's blocks

But then people wrote they'd always wanted to make this very complex, rather popular block, three rows of spiky points. I was going to advise them to find a paper-pieced pattern on line. But I couldn't find anyone selling a pattern for three rows of points.

Jasper Auction

Well, I'll draw one I said. It's a public service.

Northeast Auction

Quilters living outside the South made these blocks too.

It has a number in my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, #3469. Since the book's been digitized into BlockBase+ I had the program draw a pattern for you fearless piecers.

Pattern A

And here it is for a 16" finished block (Patterns have to fit on the 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper.) I'd be printing this 50% bigger, enlarging it to at least 24 inches. You are getting 1/4 of the block, which you can make into templates or paper piece as arcs and assemble into a square.

I worked on my pattern for a while because if you look closely the two inner arcs are not balanced. The bottom left of the smallest arc is a half a point, the top right has a full point. If you are going to piece this over paper arcs repeating it four times will NOT work. But after looking at it for a while I realized what to do.

You will need two versions of the pattern. I flipped the pattern over, making the words backwards but also making the second of the paired designs.

Print Pattern x 2

& Flipped x 2

Pattern B

If you are making templates I don't think it matters. You make a template for each of the 6 triangles and then cut a whole lot of triangles.

Rhoda, whose quilt is at top, actually made two of these quilts.

You may notice she did not worry about the sharpness of her points.

(No paper piecing for her.)

Here's a version attributed to Eliza McCardle Johnson (1810-1883) President Andrew Johnson's wife. Unlikely, as she died before these prints in blue, black and reds were fashionable in the 1890s.

Jasper Auction. Middle ring has faded. Clues to Southern origin?

Fading solid green. Lack of precision points.

A charming approach to the whole thing.