My goal this year is to release the recreations of these early 1900’s Hearth and Home State Block submissions on each States National Day! January 4, 2023 is National Missouri Day, and I have the Missouri State Quilt Block Tutorial and some fun facts about Missouri.
I started these blocks last year, but because of some personal issues and shipment delays, these blocks got pushed to the side. This year I want to release these each week, so keep checking back here for the block and tutorial release.
Fun Facts about Missouri
- Missouri was named after a tribe of Sioux Indians called the Missouria, or Missouri. The name means “he of the big canoe”.
- Walt Disney, founder of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Corporation, is one of the most famous celebrites from Missouri.
- Popular author Mark Twain also hailed from Missouri.
- President Truman, who originally came to the White House as Roosevelt’s Vice President and running mate in the 1944 elections. Roosevelt’s death in 1945 led to Truman becoming President.
- The Gateway Arch National Park (formerly known as the “Jefferson National Expansion Memorial”) founded by the National Park Service in 1935 to commemorate Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a transcontinental United States.
- Single men between the ages of twenty-one and fifty must pay an annual tax of one dollar (enacted in 1820).
- The first automatically sliced commercial loaves of bread happened on July 6, 1928, in Chillicothe, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder of Davenport, Iowa.
- In Natchez, Missouri you aren’t allowed to give beer or other intoxicants to elephants.
- In Excelsior Springs, Missouri it’s against the law to worry squirrels.
- The tallest man in documented medical history was Robert Pershing Wadlow from St. Louis. He was 8 feet, 11.1 inches tall.
How to make the Missouri State Quilt block with free templates and cutting directions
Go grab the rotary cutting directions for this block below and let’s get started!
Supplies
3 fat quarters of your choice, preferably a dark, medium and light color.. I am part of the Fat Quarter Shop Hoffman Batik of the Month club and my batik’s accumulate so that is how I got my fabrics for my blocks. I chose the colors of the State Bird – Eastern Bluebird that has a Dark Blue, Light Blue and Orange in it.
The following items are good things to have when getting ready to paper piece
- Alphabitties – I use these to label all my pieces in the block.
- 6.5″ square ruler – all pieces can be cut with this small ruler.
- 1/4″ presser foot – great addition to a sewing machine for getting precise seams.
- Thread – Aurifil 50 wt. are great because they are strong, but light so there isn’t a lot of bulk in the seams.
- Block Easel – I use this to hold all my pieces in place as I build my blocks!
Step 1 – Choose your fabrics
This block lends itself to three colors – dark, medium and light. You can see that with my Easter Bluebird colors that they have the dark blue, light blue and my orange acts as a medium color. Keep this in mind when building your block so that pattern will really stand out.
Step 2 – Cut your pieces
I created instructions for cutting to help if you don’t have a means to print templates, but there are templates available if that is how you would like to cut your pieces. I used Alphabitties to keep track of all my cuts, so when I put the block together I know where the pieces will go according to the letter in the pattern!
Step 3 – Cut & Sew the Upper Left Corner
Grab the (A) and (B) pieces. Cut the (B) rectangle on the diagonal to get two triangle pieces.
Use the rotary cutting instructions to cut the (A) pieces the way it needs to be cut. There will be two pieces that will be cut from the (A) piece, these can be discarded or you can use them in another project.
The (B) triangles will be lined up with the cuts on the (A) piece and the (B) piece will be larger than the (A). Center the (B) over (A), sew at 1/4″ and iron towards (B). Repeat for the other side.
Square the upper left corner to 8″ square and set aside.
Step 4 – Sew the HST’s!
Grab the light, medium and dark squares labeled and match up two dark and lights and two medium and lights and two dark and mediums.
- Place Fabric “A” 2 1/2″(E) square on top of Fabric “C” 2 1/2″(E) square.
- Mark a line diagonally down the center and stitch 1/4″ on both sides of the marked line. Cut on the
- center line, press to the dark fabric.
- You will get two half square triangles (HST) from each 2 1/2″ square set.
- Trim the HST to 2″.
- Make 4 of each set above per the HST instructions replacing each fabric letter.
Step 5 – Layout the block and Build the Bottom Right Unit
Now we can lay out the block and see how it is going to go together in sections. Grab all your pieces and lay it out in the following manner.
Let’s start with the bottom right corner. This is a simple 9 patch, sew your pieces together in rows and from top to bottom and iron your pieces on the top and bottom rows to the outside and the middle row towards the inside.
Sew the rows together by nesting the seams and iron these seams away from the center row.
The top right and bottom left corners are the same, put the three HST’s together, ironing towards the middle HST and then sew this onto the large rectangle. All your corners should look just like the above image.
Step 6 – Sew the Rows Together and Create the Block
Now we can put the top and bottom rows together, ironing towards the corners with the HST’s, so that now when we put the two rows together, all our seams will match! Iron towards the top of the block.
Your Missouri State Block is complete!
Congratulations! Your Missouri State Block is now complete! Share your newly created block with your friends on Social Media! Use the #MissouriStateQuiltBlockCC and see what other people are making!
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