Thursday, July 4, 2019

Vintage Block Along - Week 24 - Mercantile Block!!

Hello and welcome to Week 24 of our 



Today I'm sharing another 
vintage block with you from 
my grandma's pattern basket:)


As I mentioned last week...
my grandma owned the only store 
in our small town and it
 was called The Mercantile.

Today's block is inspired 
by the flooring in the store.


It was made with linoleum tiles...
which back then was very common 
and easy to install.
Just like with quilting...
you could arrange the tiles 
for many different designs.

There were many colors to choose from
 and grandma's store was in
 the classic black and white.



In the backroom of the store 
the flooring was the deep blue green
 color that is the exact same 
as the color in my fabrics
that is called Vivid.
The opening of the backroom 
had a curtain instead of a door.
 Grandma kept a small size 
table and chairs set back there for us.

I remember staying at the store
 with grandma before I was old enough
 to go to school when Mom had a
 PTA meeting or went to get her hair done.

We would eat lunch at the table 
and grandma had a book shelf back there
 with lots of fun books
 and also some toys...
and of course crayons and coloring books.



I looked through grandma's basket 
for a block that had a checkerboard
 to represent the flooring. 
In grandma's pattern it said 
the block was called Stepping Stones.




I used the same colors from
 Farm Girl Vintage 
that were actually in the floor:)


I used one of my 
Bee Backgrounds for the block:)


Are you ready to sew???



From the background cut:
16 - 1 1/2" squares



From this cut:
5 - 3 1/2" squares



From this one cut:
20 - 1 1/2" squares



And finally from this one cut:
4 - 3 1/2" squares
(I changed my mind and used another print
 and I'll tell you why at the end:)



This block is easy peasy to put together...
as simple as sewing squares together.

First step is to grab all of the
 1 1/2" squares...



And make 4 little 9 patch blocks.
Each should measure 
3 1/2" square at this point.
Then lay them out with the 
5 - 3 1/2" squares to make 
a larger 9 patch...


Like this!
It should measure 9 1/2" square 
at this point.
Now to add the 4 easy corner triangles 
to the corners:)



And this is where I switched the fabric...
Although I think that
 my original choice would look good...
I just felt that the darker 
would be a better contrast 
so I went with that one!



Draw a diagonal line for sewing or use the 



I really like how the darker print pops!
Now to trim off the excess...



And cut 1 1/2" squares from the leftovers.
As I told you in the 
beginning of this series...
I always cut the largest size squares 
that I can from the trimmings 
of my easy corner triangles.

The smallest size that I cut is 1 1/2".
 If I can't get that out of 
the trimmings I just discard them.


You may be surprised to find out that 
use my scrappy squares stash 
SEW MUCH!



Here is my completed block....



And how I pressed my seams.



I cannot tell you how thrilled 
I am with how it turned out.

The pattern and the colors truly
 take me back in time to those days
 in the store with grandma.

I can still see the floor in my memory...
and each aisle with neatly stocked 
shelves of groceries
 and household items.

There was a tall turn around display 
that held packaged toys hanging 
on the pegs that was
 next to the cash register.

I loved that store:)
My brothers and sisters and I
 didn't even have to "play" store...
we just went to grandma's store:)

She sold the store and retired 
when I was in Junior High School.


MERCANTILE BLOCK
should measure 9 1/2" square 
before we sew it into our quilt.



Thanks for sewing vintage
 with me today:)
Tune in next week for
 another episode of the 
Vintage Block Along!
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


1 comment:

Lisa LeBlanc said...

I am loving this vintage block series, Lori! Do you think you will publish them in a book?

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