Keta Gilliland

We at Quilter’s Thread are looking into the histories of many traditional quilt blocks, and we’re starting to share them with you. Periodically, we will post a block, it’s common names and some information about it in the QT Blog area of the app. You’ll find these in the QT Blog feed. This post is written by Keta Gilliland, who is a friend and advisor to Quilter’s Thread.

Yesterday winds were literally taking down trees outside my window. Then it snowed. A few hours later, the snow was gone, the wind had calmed and the day was peaceful. The weather reminds me of the Autumn Flurries quilt block.

In 1940, Nancy Page wrote in the Birmingham News: “The wind is blowing all four ways at once and sending these leaves or arrowheads or whatever you want to call them scurrying and flurrying.  That’s why I called this pattern by the name of ‘Autumn Flurries.’”  It is also known as Winged Arrows.

Autumn Flurries uses some great techniques such as flying geese units, and quarter square triangles.  There are a few ways this block can be put together, depending on whether you want a solid square in the middle, or if you use triangles to construct it.  The orange and brown colors definitely have a Fall feel, but the pastels are all Spring. I call my pastel version March Madness.

 

Speaking of March Madness, this block would be great in your favorite basketball team’s colors. My alma mater is Marquette University, so I call the blue and gold version Golden Eagles. I’ve been saving my college team fabric for 8 years and finally know what I will be using it for!

One block, so many options! And it’s not just color options…use this block for an entire quilt or as part of a sampler.  Let your mind be swept away with the possibilities of all you can do with the fabric in your stash, the scraps you have accumulated, or the beautiful new fabric line at your favorite local quilt shop.  Once you stop your ideas from scurrying all four ways in your mind, planning out a quilt using Autumn Flurries will be a breeze!