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Quilt Notes: The heath plant called blue heather (Caluna vulgaris) is comprised of many fronds and innumerable petals as is clear from the botanical drawing at Wikipedia. The profusion of square diamonds in this block fits well with the complexity of the plant. BLUE HEATHER first debuted in print in Nancy Cabot's (Loretta Leitner Rising's) quilt column in the Chicago Tribune on February 10, 1936, where she comments as follows:
"BLUE HEATHER was one of the earliest quilt blocks to be pieced. With the limited materials at hand, one of the early New England settlers pieced this block and set together a quilt composed entirely of pieced squares. Close inspection of todays pattern, BLUE HEATHER, will illustrate clearly the ingenuity of the creator. A row of light blue prints indicates a path through two rows of heather, which is cleverly shown by blocks of solid color. The deep thought and much time spent on those old blocks are mute evidence of what they meant in the lives of our pioneer ancestors."
Comparable, squared diamond patterns at this site include:
YREKA SQUARE
SARAH'S FAVORITE
TINTED CHAINS
DOMINO AND SQUARES
WASHINGTON'S SIDEWALKS
For more floral designs see:
CATALPA FLOWER
WILD IRIS
PRAIRIE QUEEN
FLOWERING NINE PATCH
TEXAS ROSE
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BLUE HEATHER
