Help with quilt block name origins

Hi ya'll,
I have been a quilter for about 7 years now and occasionally read the
posts on this news group. Recently I started doing some volunteer work
for the local historical association. I have been asked to come up with
some activities for the children's room, especially something with
quilts. As there is already a collection of felt squares and triangles,
we thought we'd make a board for kids to put together quilts blocks.
I'd like to have some examples already printed out showing the block,
what a whole quilt would look like with just that block and why the
block has the name it does.
This last part is where my problem lies. While I have found lots of
books that talk about quilt history in general, or even specific topics
(like quilts on the underground railroad), I haven't found any that tell
about the name origins of specific blocks. Does anyone know of any
books that have this info, or even websites?

Thanks so much,
Meme in NNY

Meme Greathouse wrote:
Hi ya'll,
I have been a quilter for about 7 years now and occasionally read the
posts on this news group. Recently I started doing some volunteer work
for the local historical association. I have been asked to come up with
some activities for the children's room, especially something with
quilts. As there is already a collection of felt squares and triangles,
we thought we'd make a board for kids to put together quilts blocks. I'd
like to have some examples already printed out showing the block, what a
whole quilt would look like with just that block and why the block has
the name it does.
This last part is where my problem lies. While I have found lots of
books that talk about quilt history in general, or even specific topics
(like quilts on the underground railroad), I haven't found any that tell
about the name origins of specific blocks. Does anyone know of any
books that have this info, or even websites?

Thanks so much,
Meme in NNY


The problem with the origin of names for a specific block is there are
so many names for the same block. Take for instance the one block I
adore - I was raised calling it Monkey Wrench, but the local quilt shop
calls it a Snail's Trail, and I've heard it called Dutchman's Puzzle.
But I've also heard Dutchman's Puzzle refer to Drunkard's Path... so
half the time, I'm never completely sure which block someone's
describing when they talk about a particular block. Names are regional
for the most part, although a few quilt types seem to have only one
name- like Baltimore Album quilts.

And no, I don't have a resource that tracks the names of quilt blocks.
I've just seen it in several magazines. Mom has magazines from the 70s
and 80s with blocks pictured that match my 2003 magazines that have
completely different names.

-georg

I wonder if there's anything over at womensearlyart.net/quilts/ that might
be helpful to you. Polly

Julia Altshuler wrote in message
...
I did research into this exact question a while ago. I thought it would
be
great to provide customers buying my quilts with a bit of historical
information
about the quilt block and when it first appeared and how it got its name.
The
more I got into it, the more I discovered a mess. Barbara Brackman's
Encyclopedia Of Pieced Quilt Patterns and Jinny Beyer's The Quilter's
Album of
Blocks & Borders are great places to start, but I wanted more information.
That's when I discovered that lots of blocks have more than one name, and
lots
of names have more than one block. There isn't one history for each
pattern;
there are serveral. A block might be known by one name in one part of the
country and a totally different one somewhere else. Then to cap it off, I
learned from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine called Century of Quilts
that
lots of names and patterns that I thought were organic somehow, patterns
that
had been passed down from mother to daughter or neighbor to neighbor, were
actually invented and named by women who were hired by magazine editors to
invent and publish quilt patterns. (Nothing wrong with that, but it
shattered
my illusions.) So if you have any better luck than I have in finding a
book
with name origins of specific blocks, let me know. I'm interested too.

(And another hint while I'm he The business about quilts being used as
signals on the underground railroad is a very popular urban myth that has
now
been thoroughly debunked no matter what Jacqueline L. Tobin was able to
get
published.)

--Lia


Meme Greathouse wrote:

Hi ya'll,
I have been a quilter for about 7 years now and occasionally read the
posts on this news group. Recently I started doing some volunteer work
for the local historical association. I have been asked to come up with
some activities for the children's room, especially something with
quilts. As there is already a collection of felt squares and triangles,
we thought we'd make a board for kids to put together quilts blocks.
I'd like to have some examples already printed out showing the block,
what a whole quilt would look like with just that block and why the
block has the name it does.
This last part is where my problem lies. While I have found lots of
books that talk about quilt history in general, or even specific topics
(like quilts on the underground railroad), I haven't found any that tell
about the name origins of specific blocks. Does anyone know of any
books that have this info, or even websites?

Thanks so much,
Meme in NNY

In article ,
Julia Altshuler wrote:
- snippage -

(And another hint while I'm he The business about quilts being used as
signals on the underground railroad is a very popular urban myth that has now
been thoroughly debunked no matter what Jacqueline L. Tobin was able to get
published.)

--Lia

YippIE You! Now that is news worthy of a happy dance! Of course, not
the tough part of convincing the die hard believers about it begins...

marcella

Frankly Lia it amazes me that there are so many people that put
credence in that report, and other legends. It seems just common
sense to me that during a time of great deprivation and strife it
would be difficult to start making quilts with certain designs
just to use as signals. For one thing, the cotton producing
states were at war and not trading with the North, so the Yankee
mills were short of raw material. Furthermore, common sense also
tells me that the quiltmakers would not have been able to
secretly publicize the quilt block codes .... communication would
be difficult, due to low literacy, war, and other problems. It
would not surprise me if there was a few families who did have a
little signal amongst themselves ... such as "If there is a quilt
on the porch chair, we have a problem." But I wouldn't think it
would have been a nation wide, or even state wide, signal. Heck
the escapes had to be done in secret, so widespread knowledge of
signals would have endangered the escapees, the rescuers, and the
helpers. Another thing that would not surprise me is that the
block sometimes called Underground Rail Road was named AFTER the
events, to commemorate that time! Anyhow it has several other
names; IIRC, '54-40 or fight' and 'Railroad Star' are used also.
That's my opinion, based only on my common sense. Your opinions
may vary folks ... you are entitled. 8-)
PAT in VA/USA

Julia Altshuler wrote:...cut...
(And another hint while I'm he The business about quilts being used as
signals on the underground railroad is a very popular urban myth that has now
been thoroughly debunked no matter what Jacqueline L. Tobin was able to get
published.)

--Lia