In Miriam’s Quilt, Miriam makes a quilt for Seth to help remind him of his mother, who has passed away. She makes a sampler quilt, which is a quilt made with many different quilt squares. Here is Miriam’s quilt with an explanation of four of the quilt squares.

CHURN DASH:

This square is called the Churn Dash. It is a very popular pattern in Amish quilts. It is also called Hole in the Barn Door, Monkey Wrench, and Shoo-Fly. This pattern originated in the 1800s and was originally named because the triangular and rectangular sides look like a butter churn and the middle looks like the stick of the butter churn.

HUNTER’S STAR:This block is actually a variation on the Hunter’s Star because the star is vertical and horizontal instead of diagonal. It is a very easy quilt block to make, even if you’re a perfectionist like my sister. Notice how her corners match perfectly.

FLYING GEESE: The Flying Geese quilt square has many variations, but the identifying shapes are isosceles triangles that look like they’re flying around the quilt square. This pattern is also known as Wild Goose Chase. This is a design used in the Civil War’s Underground Railroad quilts that hung on clotheslines or were set on windowsills of Southern abolitionists who wanted to help slaves escape north. Because slaves were not taught to read or write, abolitionists used a secret system to communicate to slaves how they should travel north by following the geese. Read more about it here.

PINWHEEL:

This quilt block is called a Pinwheel. There are many variations of this pattern, many of them more simple with just the four larger triangles without the smaller triangles in between. I love this pattern because it has so much movement and is so fun.

Next week, I’ll post about the rest of Miriam’s quilt.