An Innocent Quilt Block

The above photo appeared in an article by Jenny Deam of the LATimes in my morning paper about the above quilt.  It mentions that the “swastika block” is known by other names (aren’t all quilt blocks): Whirligig and Catch Me If You Can.  After reading the article, I was intrigued and went on a quest.

I had to go and see what information Barbara Brackman had in her Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilted Patterns book and in the software program Block Base v2 about the above mentioned quilt blocks.

Blocks known as Whirligig
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

The blocks from the photo at top is not in image above.

 Blocks known as Catch Me If You Can
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

There’s the block from the photo at top in the image above, block on right.  But, there’s 2 borders around that block, a white one and a blue one which makes it a tad different than the blocks in the photo at the top.

So then I decided to do a search in BlockBase for “swastika”.

 Blocks known as Swastika
~ screenshot from BlockBase v2 ~

I just don’t see how all the blocks in the first row could be named Swastika.  They don’t even resemble one.

By the way – here’s a Swastika --

And here is a symbol for a Unit in the United States Army 45th Infantry Division in World War I which was mentioned in the article --

And this block (left) is not to be confused with the Rail Fence (right):

The block on the left is drawn on a 5x5 grid.  The block on the right is drawn on a 6x6 grid.

I think I’m going to call the block on the left Catch Me If You Can.  After all, it is not the block’s fault that a despicable little man chose that symbol and turned it into something hateful.

Will I ever use the Catch Me If You Can block in a quilt - no, I don’t think so.  Would you?

I made the above image in EQ7, trying to duplicate what was in the photo at the top of this post.  I wonder if the maker of the quilt meant for the blocks to be mirrored from one to the other.  Maybe not, cuz there isn’t a pattern to the mirroring.  Maybe that wasn’t a concern for the quilt maker.