Thursday, June 27, 2019

Vintage Block Along - Week 23 - Penny Candy Block!!


Welcome to week 23 in the 



I picked another vintage block pattern
 from my grandma's pattern basket
 to share with you:)





I'm using Farm Girl Vintage fabric
 for all of my blocks:)


This vintage block is traditionally called Single Irish Chain.
It's the perfect scrappy quilt block 
and especially perfect 
for leftover squares:)

I chose to name this block
PENNY CANDY
and here's why!
Last week I told you that 
Grandma owned and ran the
 only store in our small town.
The official name was 
Herriman Mercantile but
 everyone just called The Merc.


Every week after we were finished
 with our Saturday chores...
Mom would give us each a dime
 and we all would head over
 to The Merc to see Grandma 
and get a little brown paper sack
 full of penny candy.
Some of the candy was even
 2 or 3 for a penny! 


Candy bars were a nickel:)


I usually chose one candy bar
 and then used the remaining
 5 cents on penny candy.

It took us FOREVER to decide 
and then we would walk home 
(it was in the center of town on Main Street) and our farm was on 
the outskirts of town.
We would eat our chosen candy bar
 on the way home and then 
save our penny candy and try to 
make it last as many days 
as possible until the next Saturday lol

Sometimes instead of walking 
we would ride our bikes...
or roller skate.


I chose the single irish chain block
 because I could just see the squares
 in colorful scrappy prints...
each representing a piece of candy:)



You will need 45 - pieces of candy 
for this block..
Also known as 1 1/2" squares lol

I used leftover squares from my stash.
Remember in the beginning 
of this sew along 
I told you that I always
 cut the trimmings from 
easy corner triangles 
into usable square sizes?

I am using mine for this block.
Waste not...want not
Grandma would be so proud!


I also have several 1 1/2" squares
 from my Bee Backgrounds 
and I used them as well.
You will need 40 of these:)


I chose this sweet little daisy print 
from Farm Girl Vintage 
and the yellow circles print 
from my Bee Backgrounds 
to use in my block.



From this print I cut 
20 - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles



And from this one I cut
 4 - 5 1/2" squares



You will need to make a total of
 20 - 4 patch blocks.
For each one you will need 
2 colors and 2 backgrounds...



Like this.
Each 4 patch should measure 
2 1/2" square at this point.
I pressed my seams open.



I just grabbed a bunch and randomly
 matched them up while chain sewing...
I didn't do a lot of planning 
other than tried to use 
a few of each color and 
not to repeat prints 
if I could help it.
I think I repeated a few though 
and that's okay and totally fine with me.



20 cute little 4 patch blocks!



Now lay 4 of them out onto your
 design board like this and add 
the background rectangles
 and one more penny candy square 
in the center.
 Sew them together into a block



Sew five of these blocks...
each should measure 
5 1/2" square at this point.



This is how I pressed mine.


After you have 5 blocks 
lay them out like this...



Add the 5 1/2" squares...



And sew into three rows...



And sew the rows together 
to finish your block!



This is how I pressed mine.



Oh my goodness I LOVE this block!
It turned out just like I imagined...
sweet as candy!
PENNY CANDY
should measure 15 1/2" square 
before we sew it into our quilt.


I hope you love making your block
 as much as I did making mine!
Join me back here next week
 for another vintage block
 from grandma.

This time I'm telling you
 what it's called...
MERCANTILE
See you then!
xx
Lori

If you are just joining us...
click on each block that we have
 done so far to go to the tutorial:


8. Humble
15. Memory
19. Picnic
20. Sparklers


7 comments:

Little Quiltsong said...

Another special block! Love the name of it!! I too remember the little variety store where we dropped off the little vintage glass pop bottles for a 2 cent return deposit and then spent 'hours' :) deciding what to buy for those few cents. Your block is beautiful and really does remind me of all the bright candy set out to entice us!

Gail LaCroix said...

What a delightful block! I am looking forward to making it! I appreciate your sharing your memories along with the quilt blocks -- so much fun to stroll down memory lane with you! My husband always talks about how his grandma (a farmer's wife) would pull out her coin purse and give him and his sisters each a few coins to go to the store in town to pick out some candy. He still has her coin purse -- it was one of the first things he shared with me when we first began dating 44 years ago. Looking forward to the Mercantile block next week! Have a lovely day!

Regina said...

Oh my goodness, Lori! You just told my story! We too took our money (a quarter or nickles from drink bottle deposits) to the little store in our beach community. We walked the two miles or rode our bikes and came home with our little brown bags of penny candy. In the summer we often purchased ice cream. My sister always bought a Popsicle for 5 cents, but I liked the Fudge sickle, which cost 6 cents, so that cut into my extra pennies for the penny candy! Thanks for another heart-warming memory and an adorable quilt square!

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

I am loving your blocks, Lori! My grandmother had a subscription to the Workbasket magazine. She is the one who taught me to sew and let me "quilt" on the bottom of the quilt while the neighborhood ladies quilted on top!! LOL My grandparents also had a little country store. I remember those penny candies and all the goodies in the store. My granny would use the empty candy boxes to draft her quilt patterns and my granddaddy would use them for "turkey shoot" practice! Thanks for the walk down memory lane today! Ahhh, the joys of childhood! Bless you as you continue on this journey!

Natureluvr57 said...

Oh the memories of those little Mom and Pop stores. Our store was called Linden's and it was like the store on The Waltons because he had canned goods on shelves and then the beautiful glass display cabinets with the jumbo dill pickles in a jar sitting on top. The penny candy was inside the glass case and it was curved at the top. Wish I had one of those cabinets to display my creations in! Some of your candies I don't remember seeing. I loved Black Cows-they were a Slow Poke covered in chocolate. I came across some years back, I think at Cracker Barrel but it wasn't the same consistency. It's like Hostess cakes-wonderful little confections until they went out of business and someone bought the company. They are dry and terrible since they put them back out on the market. We grew up in a wonderful time filled with quality foods and quality toys. I looked for a metal Tonka Truck at Walmart and couldn't find anything but plastic so I'll have to look online. It's a shame the quality of everything is so poor even on items you pay a lot for. I don't mind paying more but I want quality not some crappy plastic thing that doesn't last a month. I've been burned a lot recently so I'm venting -sorry.

Jennifer said...

I am in love with this block! Your description reminds me of MY childhood! I swear we lived parallel lives. I remember walking to the Dime Store with my cousins while staying with my Grandma and it was all about picking out the penny candy...are we cousins???

lovetostitch said...

This story brought back sweet memories for me also. We used to go to my grandparents "country house" in VA. They didn't live there we just used to all go summers or long week ends to fish. Along the way though was this general store with the big counter window of candy, and yes, we also got to fill our own little brown bag! If we chose an item that was 2 or 3 for a penny, we'd trade with out sisters & brothers. This will be a fun one to sew together!! Thank you!!

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