75REGULAR // wandering the webfree quilt patterns; it was published back in 2012 so not all the
links work but enough do that it’s worth a look.
There are dozens of traditional blocks with a nautical name
- Storm at Sea is probably the one that fi rst comes to mind
but there are also Ocean Waves, Lost Ship, Time and Tide,
Lighthouse and Fish among others for you to search for.
However it is Mariners Compass that is probably the most
traditional (and feared?) block. All those pointy points! C&T
Publishing have a couple of books from Judy Mathieson on
making Mariners Compass quilts – the latest one is available
both as a book and as an ebook (bit.ly/2wG0l1M) while the
original book is only available as a ‘print-on-demand’ version
(bit.ly/2EVEPuj), although you may fi nd second-hand copies
for sale online. The Patchwork of my Life blog has a wonderful
pattern to download (bit.ly/2MwyhZa) together with a step-
by-step photo tutorial for making quite a complex Mariners
Compass block that was part of a Block of the Month series.
Marti Michell has Mariners Compass templates in two sizes
for sale on her website (bit.ly/2Il6CoL) which also has some
pictures of blocks made with those templates. Sew What’s
New has a free Mariner’s Compass pattern to download
on their website as the centre for a nautical-themed quilt
(bit.ly/2XCQNQE) while back in 2006 Popular Patchwork
Magazine had a Christmas quilt which featured a Mariners
Compass block in the centre; you can fi nd out more and
download the block pattern from our website (bit.ly/2HYkzdu).
For hints and tips on making a Mariners Compass you could
have a look at Planet Patchwork which has a question and
answer style post on its website (bit.ly/2K2PEiq). Meanwhile
Coast and Country have a Janet Clare quilt pattern for sale
(bit.ly/2Z8ivoT) – called Greenwich it features a Mariners
Compass as its centre.
The Mariners Compass is an old design and the Women
Folk website has a post about the history of the block
(bit.ly/2K0kXKB) while various museums have photos of quilts
in their collection for you to view online; these include, in the
UK, the Quilt Museum (bit.ly/2wGHnI5), and the American
Museum in Bath (bit.ly/2XwCNIq) while from America there are
quilts in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (bit.ly/2MweJV0) and
on a Cooper Hewitt ‘Object of the Day’ post (bit.ly/2Wipg5J).And fi nally, no trip to the beach is complete without a beach
bag and I found a tutorial from Birch Fabrics using one of
their fabric ranges (bit.ly/2K0lQTr) but it would work in your
favourite (seaside) fabric too.The bit.ly links we use are to replace the sometime
very long web addresses that take you to a particular
website page. Type in the bit.ly link (such as
bit.ly/2GeNoTf) into your web browser and you
should be directed straight to the correct web page.‘Summer Beach Quilt’, http://www.prettylittlequilts.blogspot.com Mariner’s Compass Block, http://www.patchworkofmylife.com
‘Mariner’s Compass Quilt’, American Museum, http://www.americanmuseum.org