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ANTIQUE GEOMETRIC QUILT DESIGNS
WISHING RING
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Quilt Notes:
A wishing ring is designed to make and keep safe a wish. Some have special hopes printed on the band, such as courage, wisdom, or freedom, another might simply display the international symbol for peace, etc. In print, WISHING RING as a quilt design dates back to "Mrs. Danner's Quilts" (Booklets 1 & 2) which began publishing in 1934. Later it was included by Nancy Cabot in her column in the Chicago Tribune, 1936. Jinny Beyer's QUILTER'S ALBUM differentiates each of the various pieces of the design by color (see p.183-12). Barbara Brackman's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PIECED QUILT PATTERNS includes the block along with a geometrically exquisite category called "Twenty Five Squares," all with variations on this basic pattern (#1801-#1825). In her notes, Cabot comments as follows:
"The title of the Wishing Ring block is the result of some ancient folklore. The history of which has been completely obscured by time. The patches are of the simplest type. A rectangle and a triangle comprise the entire block. Usually the pattern is pieced in red and white and set together on the diagonal in an alternate arrangement with plain blocks."
Circle
Triangle
Square
("The Universe") by Sengai Gibon
As Cabot points out, WISHING RING assembles this circular image entirely of squares and triangles (as an octagon). She also suggests a diagonal set (see rendering, upper right), because the block does not tile successfully. The problems with the tiling might be corrected also by using a solution similar to the magnificent FRIENDSHIP BLOCK. Traditionally in Japanese Zen, a circle, triangle and square together represent "The Universe." The famous ink painting illustrated above was sketched by Sengai Gibon (1750 - 1837), a Japanese Zen monk (noltice, like Chinese and Sino-Japanese, the drawing/haiku reads from right to left).
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