The Star’s 2105 Quilt Project, Block 3: A cozy evening spent at home
.jpg "A completed version of The Star’s 2015 Quilt Project, “Hazel’s Diary.”")
We’re up to the third installment of The Star’s monthly quilt project, “Hazel’s Diary,” inspired by real diary entries written by a Missouri farm girl in the 1950s. The quilt is true to that time, with appliquéd wildflowers over pieced blocks.
On Christmas Eve 1950, teenager Hazel received a little red five-year diary from her parents. She faithfully wrote in the book every day for the next few years.
Today: Part 3, “Canasta.”
Hazel’s story continues with this diary entry.
Sept. 30, 1951
Moma’s birthday. Daddy worked in the beans this afternoon. Listened to the Dodgers & Phillies (game). P’s won. What a thriller. Ruby came out this afternoon & we played for pennies in bingo. Lot of fun.
Without a television, Hazel’s family listened to the radio and spent time playing games.
Men played horseshoes and golf, while women liked croquet and lawn darts. Games such as hopscotch and hide-and-seek were popular with younger children, and teenagers liked to play hiding games and murder.
Indoors, they played checkers, Scrabble, Monopoly, penny bingo — and lots of card games. Canasta was very popular.
Besides news, sports and talent contests, the radio broadcast some of the programs that were on TV, including bandleader Horace Heidt’s many popular shows.
Dec. 16, 1951
Went to sunday school & church today. It’s awful cold out & its snowing. We stayed home tonite & listened to radio. Listened to Horace Heidt finals tonite. A singer won the $5000 dollars.
The radio was battery operated. The Hyde kids carried the big, heavy battery to their grandparents’ house a mile away so the battery could be charged on their windmill generator. After a couple of hours, they carried the battery back home.
On weekdays, the family usually listened to radio in the late afternoon or early evening before dinner. By Friday, the battery had nearly lost its charge, so they started the weekend with a trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s to charge the battery all over again.
To read the complete transcript of the diary, including more stories and pictures, plus recipes and additional quilt patterns, visit HazelsDiary.Wordpress.com. The site also has information on how to buy a PDF of this installment.
Shelly Pagliai of Wien, Mo., designed the quilt, which tells the story of her mother, Hazel Ilene Hyde.
PART 3, ‘CANASTA’
Block size: 18 inches finished
Supply list
1 (12-inch by 13-inch) rectangle and 1 (8-inch by WOF) strip white background fabric
1 (7-inch by 16 1/2-inch) strip yellow print 1
1 (9-inch) square turquoise print
1 (9-inch) square red print
1 (6-inch by 9-inch) strip green print
1 (4-inch by 14-inch) strip gray print
1 (1 1/2-inch) square yellow print 2
1 (20-inch) square red solid
Cutting instructions
For the pieced block:
From white background, cut:
1 (6 1/8-inch) square (A1)
1 (5 3/8-inch) square. Cut the square in half twice on the diagonal to make a total of 4 triangles. (A2)
2 (4 7/8-inch) squares. Cut the squares in half once on the diagonal to make a total of 4 triangles. (A3)
2 (3 1/2-inch by 12 1/2-inch) strips (A4)
2 (3 1/2-inch by 18 1/2-inch) strips (A5)
From yellow print 1, cut:
4 (3 3/8-inch by 6 1/8-inch) rectangles (B1)
From the turquoise print, cut:
4 (3 3/8-inch) squares. Draw a diagonal line on the reverse side of each of these squares with a marking pencil. (C1)
From the red print, cut:
4 (3 3/8-inch) squares. Draw a diagonal line on the reverse side of each of these squares with a marking pencil. (D1)
For the appliqué elements:
From the green print, cut:
4 pieces using template A
From the gray print, cut:
4 pieces using template B
4 pieces using template C
From yellow print 2, cut:
1 piece using template D
From red solid, cut:
1 frame using the template you saved from Block 1. If you did not save it, go to Resources at pickledish.com.
Assembly
Place a turquoise C1 square on one end of a yellow B1 rectangle, right sides together, with the diagonal line running as shown in the diagram. Stitch on the diagonal line. Press the piece out so that it forms a triangle on one end of the rectangle. Trim the excess fabric out from behind the triangle. Repeat on each of the remaining B1 rectangles. See Fig. 1.
Place a red D1 square on the other end of the yellow B1 rectangle, right sides together, with the diagonal line running as shown in the diagram. Stitch on the diagonal line. Press the piece out so that it forms a triangle on the other end of the rectangle. Trim the excess fabric out from behind the triangle. Repeat on each of the remaining B1 rectangles. See Fig. 2.
Sew two of these units to two opposite sides of the A1 background square. Make sure the turquoise triangle is next to the center and the red is on the outer edge. Press seams toward the A1 square. See Fig. 3.
Sew an A2 triangle to each end of the two remaining rectangle units. Press seams toward the triangles. See Fig. 4.
Sew these to the two remaining sides of the A1 background square. Press seams away from the center. See Fig. 5.
Finally, sew the background A3 triangles onto each corner of the block. (Make sure you’re matching the background triangle up against the pieced rectangles, right sides together.) Press seams toward the triangles. The block should measure 12 1/2 inches.
Sew the A4 strips to two opposite sides of the block. Press seams toward the strips.
Sew the A5 strips to the two remaining sides. Press seams toward the strips. See Fig. 6.
It should now measure 18 1/2 inches.
APPLIQUE DIRECTIONS
Referring to the placement diagram, and using your preferred method of appliqué, attach the appliqué pieces to the block in alphabetical order. The green leaves extend through the yellow portion of the pieced rectangles. The red solid block frame is attached using reverse appliqué, or can be attached using fusible web.
Look for Block 4 of “Hazel’s Diary” in H+H on April 19.
This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "The Star’s 2105 Quilt Project, Block 3: A cozy evening spent at home."