Classic Quilt Blocks Ohio Star is a nine-patch quilt block made with five plain squares and four quarter-square triangle units. It’s a classic block that’s easy to make, but do take care to sew an accurate quarter inch seam allowance when assembling the patchwork units. The Ohio Star block is rich in history and has been around since the early 1800’s. Like a lot of blocks, it’s known by a few other names – Variable Star, Eastern Star and Western Star, depending on it’s geographical location or time period.
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Classic Quilt Blocks Ohio Star – The Story
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The Classic Quilt Blocks Ohio Star free is another claaaasic pattern with an awesome history, amazing modern variations, and a few key tips from yours truly.
Buckle up your bonnets. This one’s good. Our story today is brought to you by famous quilt scholar Barbara Brackman. Brackman gives us some great Ohio-related Civil War history that we can connect back with the Ohio Star Quilt pattern.
It all starts in the mid 1800s in Oberlin, Ohio. You may have heard of Oberlin College – I had, but I hadn’t heard about the incredible values it was founded on. Even in these really early years, Oberlin College opened up their institution to women and African-Americans. This was extremely radical during the 1800s, and really put Oberlin on the map as a place that welcomed freed slaves and liberal thinkers.
This is exactly why Oberlin, Ohio attracted John Brown, an anti-slavery fighter who was recruiting soldiers to help him in an operation to take over a federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry. John Brown ended up recruiting Lewis Sheridan Leary, who left behind his family to help John Brown and his cause. Both men were ultimately killed for this anti-slavery efforts, leaving them and those working alongside them to be remembered as heroes.​
Lewis Sheridan Leary’s wife, Mary Patterson Leary, learned of her husband’s death when a shawl she had sewn for him was returned, riddled with bullet holes.
Mary was remembered by her son and grandson as often sitting in a rocking chair, sewing. An Ohio Star quilt was reproduced in her honor, and is now in the International Quilt Museum to honor those left behind by soldiers who met their demise during the Civil War. The Ohio Star quilt reminds many of John Brown, Lewis Sheridan Leary, and others who sacrificed their life to make our country a place where everyone could live without fear.
I love thinking of all that the Classic Quilt Blocks Ohio Star free represents – such a rich history of our country that has been passed down through something as simple and functional as a quilt.​
This pattern is by threadbarecreations.blogspot.com. A really interesting story, don’t you think? So let’s download the pattern that is most important for you now!
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