Union Square

I spent a bit of time over the last few days researching, sketching up, and testing design ideas. I found a quilt block that I thought would be pretty with my blue fabric stack. This is a vintage pattern called Union Square, designed in 1937 by Nancy Cabot.

If you are a regular visitor around here, you probably know I'm a big fan of many of Nancy Cabot's block designs. Nancy Cabot is actually a pen name for Loretta Leitner Rising. She wrote a column in the Chicago Tribune in the 1930's with quilt block patterns. Recently, I discovered you could search the Chicago Tribune archives online - and find Nancy's blocks in their original newsprint format! Sometimes technology is just great, right?

Image from

Chicago Tribune Archives

(Side note: These archives are also fun to check out with kids. My daughter and I searched famous dates in history - or the day after - and she was able to see news stories of events as they happened. She also loved seeing different advertisements from 70+ years ago.)

For my background, I pulled out a yard of a special Nani Iro fabric I've been saving for a while. This is Pierre Pocho canvas in silver. It is described as a cotton, linen, canvas (a bit of everything in there). It seems like an accurate description. It's a bit heavy (but not like home dec). It is a bit stretchy too, like linen. The whiteish spots you see are really a silver metallic design on the fabric. It's pretty special and I love it with the blue fabrics. I only have a yard, so that will definitely limit the size of this quilt. One block down, 11 to go!