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I am a wife, mama and grandmama getting through life by hanging on to a needle and thread.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Chinese Block, Broken Dishes Or ???

About a year ago my cousin, Cheryl, was looking for some information about the quilt pattern in this photo.  We did a little research together and found that it was similar to a Chinese Block or Broken Dishes, but there was a slight variation in the center from the examples that we found.  Cheryl played around with drafting templates for the pattern and even made a few blocks, but the project had been set aside until last week when she saw a post on Barbara Brackman's blog entitled Block Mystery.  The post was devoted to the mysterious Chinese Block and the lack of information available about this beautiful quilt block.  Barbara's post did answer a few of our questions and she noted that there are several variations of the block, but we have yet to find a block like the one that Cheryl's great grandmother made.  Did she draft this variation herself?  It's possible.  Needless to say, this new information has renewed our interest in her Great Grandma Ely's quilt!  I used the block pattern that Barbara provided in her post as a starting point and then drafted a center to match Great Grandma Ely's quilt...I think it's a pretty good match and the best part is that there are no templates involved!  I don't think it will be long before Cheryl and I both have our own reproductions of her great grandmother's quilt.

5 comments:

Joanne Lendaro said...

Preety Cool!! Love the block! I'm envious of those who have the courage to work with whites, just call me chicken!

Barb said...

Now that looks like a hard block but sooooo awesome!

Cheryl said...

It was a hard block to figure out ,but i think we got it this time !
Sue I received the pattern instructions from you today,thank you ,I need to get that printer soon !!
And your sample matches perfect !

Janet said...

That's so lovely and touching that this quilt is going to be reproduced. It would be a great pattern for a red and white quilt too. Would you consider a tutorial on this block?

Mary @ Neat and Tidy said...

Very nice!

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