Rocky Mountain Puzzle - Red Sky at Night Quilt

In 1930, Loretta Lietner, a secretary working at the Chicago Tribune, started a daily quilting column under the name Nancy Cabot. The column was small, tucked in among the crosswords and advertisements, and included a little illustration of a quilt block, a story about the history, or inspiration, and instructions for how to purchase the pattern. Send 5c or a stamp to the Paper, or drop in at the office to get your copy.
By the end of the Thirties, Nancy Cabot was known for her stylish taste in patchwork. She had published three booklets through the paper (which still didn't include patterns, you had to buy those seperately!) and over 1300 quilt blocks. The column was sold around the country to other newspapers and journals, sometimes even under different names.
Rocky Mountain Puzzle was published on June 22, 1933 with a little information about it's name. According to Barbara Brackman, these little tidbits of history weren't always accurate. What we have learned, however, from this year-long expedition into quilt making past, is that quilt block names did vary from state to state, and by the 1930s, when quilting exploded, names became canonized due to publications like this one.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUZZLE 12"BLOCK TUTORIAL

You will need:

Red: One 4.5" square, five 4" squares cut in half diagonally to make half square triangles, two 3.5" squares.

White: five 4" squares cut in half diagonally to make half square triangles, two 1.5" x 4.5" rectangles, two 1.5" x 6.5" rectangles.

1. Sew the red triangles to the white triangles. Press seams open and trim to 3.5". (NOTE: the photo below is borrowed from another post, which used smaller HSTs!)

2. Next, take your large red square, and sew the 4.5" white strips to opposite sides. Press open.

3. Now sew the 6.5" strips to the other sides. Press.

4. Take 4 half square triangles and lay them out as below. Make sure the white triangles are touching the white strips, and are pointing down on the left, and up on the right.

5. Sew the half square triangles (HSTs) to one one next door.

6. Press and sew to each side of the centre square.

7. Now lay out the remaining HSTs so that they hug opposite corners of the centre square. Make sure all the triangles point towards the middle. Fill in the top right and bottom left gap with the 3.5" red squares.

8. Sew these together in rows. Press seams.

9. Sew these rows to each side of the block. Press.

My favourite form of this block in on point, so I'm especially excited to include it in my Red Sky at Night quilt, which I've decided to sew together on point. I just love how it becomes symmetrical!
I ordered a book last week about why quilting took off in the 1930s, during the depression. I can't wait to read it and share what I learn with you! Meanwhile, if you have any knowledge on the subject, feel free to share it here.

Have a great week!