Braced Star Tutorial for the Glorious Autumn Block Party

Today is my day to share a block for the Quilting Gallery Glorious Autumn Block Party. e days a week, for 15 weeks a new 12" block will be unveiled along with some great deals from your favorite online shops.  You can see the previous blocks and the schedule for new blocks here.

My block is the Braced Star block. I chose this block because it's one that my Great Grandmother made. Great-Grandma Flora left behind several boxes of UFO for me and my Mom to complete. We don't consider this a burden at all. We've worked on them when inspired and it's been fun to see Mom and her sisters talk about the fabrics in the quilts and who had a dress made from which fabric. We have completed several quilts and have only a few left. You can see some of them (as well as the stack of Braced Star blocks) here.  You can see the first quilt I finished and a photo of Flora here.

My Mom made a quilt for one of her cousins with the Braced Star blocks and here's the last block that didn't make it in the quilt.

You can see that all of her quilts are scrap quilts. I do not remember much about her, she died when I was about 9. But I do remember seeing her work on her hand piecing and once I remember seeing the quilting frame set up in the living room. She was hand peicing the day she fell and broke her hip. She didn't drop her hand work though! She died 2 weeks later so I can say that she quilted until the very end.

Anyway, I've been wanting to make a Braced Star block for myself and now I've created a tutorial for you too. You can download it here. To save the file, once the file opens in our web browser, choose the File link under the block name, and then select Download at the bottom of the menu.

Now, if you've made it this far the you deserve a prize. I recently finished a project using feedsack fabrics so, in honor of  Great-Grandma Flora, I want to share a pack of 6" feedsack charms. I think there are about 20 charms here. These are the same fabrics that I used in my Blogger BOM quilt.

To enter leave a comment and tell me if you have any quilting heritage in your family. If not, you can still enter, just leave a comment. I will draw a winner Monday.

 

This drawing is officially closed and the winner has been announced. Thanks for visiting!

Comments

[Deborah]

My mother and grandmother passed on quilting to me!

Deborah
homemakerhoney @gmail .com

[Judy]

My grandmother quilted, and my mother was a wonderful seamstress. I love to sew for my grandchildren and just purchased material to make them each a quilt. This will be my first try at quilting so I've been soaking up all the advice I can get. Thank you for the info on your blog. We've live on a small family farm and would love to incorporate your feed sack materials in my quilts. Thank you.

[wendy]

I am the very first quilter in my extended family. My mum can sew and my grandma could too, but it was sewing for necessity - repairs, curtains, that kind of thing. I'm the first creative sewer!

[shirley bruner]

i got the quilting gene from my Aunt Sophie. She made quilts for the church for their bingos. My grandma made utility quilts and did the sewing, patching for the family. i love feedsack fabrics and would give them a good home.

[Pauline]

My Grandma and my Mom quilted a little. I don't remember them quilting, but I know Grandma had an old wooden quilting frame. I remember Mom more of a seamstress than a quilter. She also made pleated drapes and curtains. I took a quilting class when I was 52 and haven't looked back. I have a few old feed sacks from 'antiquing' and would love to 'someday' have enough feed sack fabric to make a quilt...thanks for the chance. Have a wonderful week! Happy stitching Pauline

[Pat]

I am the first quilter in my family. Neither my mom or grandmom did any sewing. I envy those of you who have learned through the generations.

[Kimberly]

What a wonderful legacy! Quilting skipped a few generations in my family. We have a quilt made by my great grandmother which has been called "scrappy but artful." We never met so I think this is a good argument for a quilting gene ;>.

[dawn]

You are very lucky to have such a great quilters in your family. My grandmother and mother both sewed and my sisters and I had Sunbonnet Sue bed 'quilts' that they made but they weren't traditional quilts. They were appliqued tops and backing, with one edge open so a thin flannel blanket could be stuffed and safety pinned inside...kind of like a duvet cover. I am the 1st quilter in my family however my older sister just became interested in quilting :D

[vicki]

Great block thanks for the tut
Sorry you will not be going to Huston for quilt market that trip is on my quilting "bucket list"
I too have some hand pieced blocks from my grandmother one set my mother and I have pieced (by hand) and sandwiched It is now in my sister's hands to quilt (she is not a quilter so it may take awhile)I have instructed her and she will instruct her daughter so we will have 4 generations working on one quilt
the other set is nearly pieced (again by hand) so that my daughter and her daughters will have worked on it by the time it is actually quilted.
thanks for an inspiring post

[Teresa in Music City]

My grandmother quilted a little, and a small quilt she made for my mom's dog was passed on to me many years after Granny died. That little quilt spurred my own interest in quilting over 6 years ago!

[Denise :)]

My grandmother was a quilter ... in fact, yesterday I came across a four page chart she'd made herself, of fabrics from a quilt shop in Massachusetts -- she lived in Maryland! It's at least 40 years old--my plan is to do a little searching today to see if the quilt shop is still in business! I also own a Grandmother's Garden quilt that she was working on when she died. I'd love to finish it someday! :)

[Gwen Windham]

What a wonderful and generous prize!! I love vintage fabrics!!

One of my earliest memories is snuggling under an old and well worn Sunbonnet Sue quilt that was made by a Great Aunt and passed down to my Mom... I used to love looking at all the little Sunbonnet Girls-- comparing and admiring all their pretty dresses.. I guess that explains my love for all those vintage fabrics-- and for Sunbonnet Sue. (Sue somehow ends up somewhere in almost every quilt I make.. :-)

Thank you so much for the chance to win! :-)

[Cathy Shepherd]

My Great-grandmother was a quilter. I remember going to visit her as a child and seeing a Dresden Plate quilt, and thinking "I want to do that" The first quilt I ever made was a Dresden Plate. Also, my mother and grandmother were sewers, although not quilters.

[Michelle Harrison]

My mother taught me and in the winter, I sleep under a quilt my grandmother and great-aunt made for me. It is a one-patch of all the fabrics my mother used in clothes for me and my brothers when we were growing up. I am one lucky gal.

[Sherry]

My grandmother and her mother are the only quilters I know of. Most of what my grandmother made was sewn by hand. She made several dresden quilts, hand sewn and tied. I have been at this for a couple of years and have learned so much throuh blogs, I am hooked now.

[Bonnie Larson]

My grandmother did some quilting, but my mother did not have time, so I guess I am the one reviving family history. I have only been quilting for a few years and love it. Thanks for the opportunity on the giveaway.

[Sandi]

Your block is beautiful and I love the story behind it!! Almost all the ladies in my family quilted and I have many tops and quilts that they have made. I treasure everyone of them and share their stories whenever anyone will listen. ;-) I love both old and new quilts but the ones that really "speak" to me are the ones that have family connections.

[Barb]

Enjoyed your star and love the feed sacks!

[Pat]

Hello ... I am a first generation quilter in my family. I hope to pass this love of quilting, as well as many quilts, on to my children and grandchildren. I love old fabrics and reproduction fabrics and historical patterns. It makes me feel connected to all those quilters who have sewn before me. Thanks for sharing ... :) Pat

[MoeWest]

There are no other quilters in our family. Mom had a sewing machine for hemming pants and repairs but I don't remember ever seeing her use it. I started sewing at age 10 for home ec class and liked to make clothes and home decorating items. I only started quilting in my 50's and I love it. Thanks for a chance to win the feedsack squares.

[Missy Shay]

My grandmother used to quilt. When I was little, I would go to the quilting bees with her and she would have me crawl under the quilting loom and they would hand me the yarn and I would push it back up through the fabric to them to secure the quilt. I have two quilts she made me.
missysaprons@gmail.com

[De]

Both my grandmother and my great-grandmother were quilters! I have quilts from both of them in my home to inspire me! My mom was an amazing seamstress but never quilted. Once I got the bug, I've never stopped!

[Jenelle Boxberger]

Oh My Gosh.. Love love the star block. I can't wait to try it. I'm a self taught quilting using the internet for most of my learning ways. Thanks for making the pattern sew easy to follow. No one in my huge family does any quilting.

[Crystal]

Thank you for the block pattern I love it.

My great grandma made crazy quilts and my granny made regular quilts and alot of them were hand embroidered also.

Thank you for the give away.

Crystal

[Emily c]

My mother loved to sew, but she did not quilt.