Quilt Tributes to Palm Sunday

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday for those who are of the Christian faith. Many, many quilt blocks drew their inspiration from events and people that appear in the Bible. The Palm block is also called Hosanna, which means: (especially in biblical, Judaic, and Christian use): to express adoration, praise, or joy. Here are two single blocks:

Hosanna block using solid shot cottons: 10"

And one more:

And another block from the back after the papers were removed:

Here is what a vintage quilt booklet has on its cover. Bible Blocks! When you look inside, you will see odd shaped TEMPLATES for making all those points. Traditionally, this was hand pieced.

Bible Favorites cover

Here is the page with the templates! Now do you see why I converted this to easy paper piecing? This is a Ruby McKim pattern which ran in the Kansas City Star.

Template page for making the Palm Leaf block

I made the blocks in a 6" size (paper pieced, btw) and  five of them made a sweet pillow.

Five 6" paper pieced Palm blocks = a pillow!

Here are four 6" blocks arranged as shown on the cover of the Bible Blocks booklet.

Four 6" blocks using the Burlap Collection by Benartex

This following was a proposal for my last book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points. Editors didn't want it! 7" block size. Here's one block up close:

One 7" Hosanna/Palm block

Four blocks are set on point:

This is ANOTHER quilt using the 10" size block. I used the Regency Dandy collection by Windham Fabrics.

Palm Quilt using bright prints. 60" x 60" quilt

My most recent Palm Quilt is one I made for a workshop. It is composed of 10" blocks, but I've also written the pattern for 7" blocks (since you can print those on your home printer!) I used some shot cottons for the palm fronds and two Kaffe Fassett prints to finish it off.

Palm Quilt: 7" blocks; 33" x 43" quilt

And here are a few of my other quilts made using both the 7" blocks and the 10" blocks. This was the basis for my 2014 workshop entitled Cupid's Arrows.

Cupid's Arrows wall banner using 7" blocks.

How about reds, which I bring out for Valentines day? Same 7" blocks set on point. Notice the direction of the stripes. There is a trick for cutting those without waste.

And the quilt from my Paper Piecing Perfect Points book. Again, using the 7" blocks. Why 7"? Because it fits when printed on a standard 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper! This is a unique way to set 7 blocks together.

Hosannah Quilt: same size as the first one above

And a larger quilt with 16 blocks 10" x 10". I can print these only because I have a large format printer. Otherwise, you would have to draft it yourself on graph paper.

16 block Palm quilt

And a very, very pink quilt! Each of the Palm blocks is a different Kaffe Fassett print.

Palm Quilt: 56" x 56"

And one of the first Palm Quilts I made about 15 years ago. It was a workshop I taught in Atlanta when I lived there. Here is a single block first. Again, this is paper pieced in an off-set log cabin approach - all in one piece.

Single 10" block

And the four block quilt with the blocks on point and added sashing between them. I think I still have this quilt. (Yes, I really don't know. I own a LOT of quilts!)

10" Blocks set on point: 45" x 45"

Check out my Palm Quilt in the Etsy shop which uses the 7" size. Very scrappy with the 3 colors for each block.

If you celebrate Palm Sunday, I wish you a meaningful day. I bet you won't look at those green palm fronds (that the little kids wave around as they march up the church aisle) the same again!