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Block · Geese and triangles

Storm at Sea

Straight seams that look like waves: squares in squares and diamonds in rectangles that together curve across the quilt.

Other names
Storm på havet · Stormfuldt hav
Known from
The name is known from 1915; most surviving quilts are from the 1900s
First known print
"Storm at Sea" is in Marie Webster's list of 1915 among names from the sea such as Ocean Waves. Whether the name then meant the same design as today, we do not know.
Origin
Unknown, as for most traditional blocks
Family
Geese and triangles
Difficulty
Hard · Curves and skewed angles, cut from templates
Grid
6 × 6 cells

History

We do not know the block's origin or first print. Marie Webster names it in 1915, but without a drawing. Most surviving Storm at Sea quilts are from the 1900s; the museum in Lincoln has a modern one from 1982–92.

We have found nothing more we can vouch for, so we write no more until we have.

How it is used

The block is Square in a Square, diamonds in rectangles and small squares, all with straight seams. The angles make the eye see waves, especially when the colours run from light to dark across the quilt. It is popular with modern quilters and often sewn on paper (foundation paper piecing).

Quilts with the block

Sources

The text is our own, written from the sources below. Photos of old quilts with the block are in the museums' collections.

  1. Book Marie D. Webster: Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them (1915)
  2. Museum International Quilt Museum: Storm at Sea, Helen M. Ericson, 1982–1992
All sources and thanks