Carly

The one thing Carly’s aunt was sure she wanted was blue, green, and purple jewel tones for her niece’s college graduation gift. I helped her narrow down her choices. Medallion or blocks? Borders surrounding a center or repeating design units arranged in a grid? Medallion, but then she stopped at one block while flipping through a book in my sewing studio and said “ooh, that’s nice!” I took a quick mental note and later considered the dilemma. She wanted a medallion quilt but was most drawn to a block. The answer? Draft the block larger until the design elements in a single block fill an entire queen size quilt, and fill in detail for more visual interest.

The block dates back to 1898 when the pattern for it appeared in Ladies Art Company, one of the earliest quilt pattern companies in America selling patterns through its mail order catalog. They called it “Mrs. Cleveland’s Choice.” It’s also known as “County Fair” and “Square Within Square.”