Quilt Block in Honor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Daughter of Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, Margaret was born on July 22, 1647, at L'Hautecour, Burgundy, France, was sent to the Poor Clares school at Charolles on the death of her father, a notary, when she was eight years old. She was bedridden for five years with rheumatic fever until she was fifteen and early developed a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. She refused marriage, and in 1671 she entered the Visitation convent at Paray-le-Monial and was professed the next year. From the time she was twenty, she experienced visions of Christ, and on December 27, 1673, she began a series of revelations that were to continue over the next year and a half. In them Christ informed her that she was His chosen instrument to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart, instructed her in a devotion that was to become known as the Nine Fridays and the Holy Hour, and asked that the feast of the Sacred Heart be established.

Rebuffed by her superior, Mother de Saumaise, in her efforts to follow the instruction she had received in the visions, she eventually won her over but was unable to convince a group of theologians of the validity of her apparitions, nor was she any more successful with many of the members of her community. She received the support of Blessed Claude La Colombiere, the community's confessor for a time, who declared that the visions were genuine. In 1683, opposition in the community ended when Mother Melin was elected Superior and named Margaret Mary her assistant. She later became Novice Mistress, saw the convent observe the feast of the Sacred Heart privately beginning in 1686, and two years later, a chapel was built at the Paray-le-Monial to honor the Sacred Heart; soon observation of the feast of the Sacred Heart spread to other Visitation convents. Margaret Mary died at the Paray-le-Monial on October 17, and was canonized in 1920. She, St. John Eudes, and Blessed Claude La Colombiere are called the "Saints of the Sacred Heart"; the devotion was officially recognized and approved by Pope Clement XIII in 1765, seventy-five years after her death. Her feast day is observed on October 17.

From Catholic.org

This 12" x 12" quilt block represents the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To download the free pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Quilt Block in Honor of Blessed Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland. He was ordained in 1946, became the bishop of Ombi in 1958, and became the archbishop of Krakow in 1964. He was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1967, and in 1978 became the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years. He was a vocal advocate for human rights and used his influence to effect political change. He died in Italy in 2005. It was announced in July of 2013 that he would be declared a saint in April of the following year.

 This 12" x 12" quilt block is based on Pope John Paul II's coat of arms. "The main representation is a cross, whose form, however, does not correspond to the customary heraldic model. The reason for the unusual placement of the vertical section of the cross is readily apparent if one considers the second object inserted in the coat of arms the large and majestic capital M. This recalls the presence of Mary beneath the cross and her exceptional participation in the Redemption." (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/biography/documents/hf_jp-ii_bio_19781016_stemma_en.html)

To download the free pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of Pope John Paul II

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Joseph

St. Joseph was the husband of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. 

We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24). 

We know Joseph was man of faith, obedient to whatever God asked of him without knowing the outcome. When the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him the truth about the child Mary was carrying, Joseph immediately and without question or concern for gossip, took Mary as his wife. When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).

We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.

Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry. 

Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth. 

From Catholic.org

A symbol of St. Joseph is carpenter tools, which I have attempted to represent in this 12" x 12" quilt block. To download the free pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Joseph

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Maria Goretti

Born in Corinaldo, Ancona, Italy, on October 16 1890; St. Maria Goretti's farmworker father moved his family to Ferrier di Conca, near Anzio. Her father died of malaria and her mother had to struggle to feed her children.

In 1902 an eighteen-year-old neighbor, Alexander, grabbed her from her steps and tried to rape her. When Maria said that she would rather died than submit, Alexander began stabbing her with a knife. 

As she lay in the hospital, she forgave Alexander before she died. Her death didn't end her forgivness, however. 

Alexander was captured and sentenced to thirty years. He was unrepentant until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him flowers. When he woke, he was a changed man, repenting of his crime and living a reformed life. When he was released after 27 years he went directly to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness, which she gave. "If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withold forgiveness," she said. 

When Maria was declared a saint in 1950, Alexander was there in the St. Peter's crowd to celebrate her canonization. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950 for her purity as model for youth.

She is called a martyr because she fought against Alexander's attempts at sexual assault. However, the most important aspect of her story is her forgiveness of her attacker -- her concern for her enemy extending even beyond death. Her feast day is July 6. St. Maria Goretti is the patroness of youth and for the victims of rape.

From: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=78

St. Maria Goretti's symbols include lilies and a sword. For this quilt block, I have included a top view of two lilies and a variation on a sword on the sides. To download the free 12" x 12" pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Maria Goretti

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Elizabeth, Mother of St. John the Baptist

According to the Gospel of Luke, Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron the high priest (Luke 1:5-7). She and her husband Zacharias were "righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless", but childless. While ministering in the temple of the Lord, Zacharias was visited by the angel Gabriel (Luke 8-12) and told of the impending birth of a son, who would become St. John the Baptist.

According to the account, the angel Gabriel was then sent to Nazareth in Galilee to her "cousin" Mary, then a virgin, espoused to a man called Joseph, and informed her that she would conceive by the Holy Ghost and bring forth a son to be called Jesus. After she was also informed that her "cousin Elisabeth" had begun her sixth month of pregnancy, she travelled to "Hebron, in the hill country of Judah",to visit (Luke 1:26-40).

Luke 1:56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
57 Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son.
58 And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her.
59 And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John.
61 And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.
62 And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called.
63 And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.

That was the last mention of Elizabeth, who is not mentioned in any other chapter in the Bible.

I wasn't able to find a mention of any symbol for St. Elizabeth, only that she was associated with the color green. So, I have set one of the symbols (a shell) of her son (St. John the Baptist) on a field of green.

To download the free 12" x 12" pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Elizabeth of the Bible

Quilt Blocks in Honor of Saints Perpetua and Felicity

Saints Perpetua and Felicity (believed to have died 7 March 203) are Christian martyrs of the 3rd century. Perpetua (born around 181) was a 22-year old married noblewoman and a nursing mother. Her co-martyr Felicity, an expectant mother, was her slave. They suffered together at Carthage in the Roman province of Africa, during the reign of Septimius Severus.

The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions is said to preserve the actual account of her arrest and imprisonment and her fellow martyr Saturus’ own account of his dreams (chapter ii and chapter xi). According to the passion, a number of catechumens were arrested for their faith and executed at the military games in celebration of the Emperor Geta's birthday (chapter ii). The group consisted of a slave named Revocatus, his fellow slave Felicitas, the two free men Saturninus and Seculdulus, and Perpetua (chapter ii).

 One of the symbols of St. Perpetua is a wild cow, probably because she was sent into the arena to face a rabid heifer. To download this free pattern for a 12" x 12" quilt block please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Perpetua


Seven swords are a symbol of St. Felicity. To download this free 12" x 12" quilt block pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Felicity

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Timothy

Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, St. Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey.

When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia.

Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26.

From Catholic.org.

St. Timothy's symbol is a club and stones because they were the instruments of his death.

 To download this free 12" x 12" pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Timothy:

Quilt Block in Honor of St Michael the Archangel

A reader wrote and requested six quilt block designs for her family, so over the next few weeks I will be posting those patterns. 

St. Michael, the Archangel - Feast day - September 29th

The name Michael signifies "Who is like to God?" and was the warcry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers. Holy Scripture describes St. Michael as "one of the chief princes," and leader of the forces of heaven in their triumph over the powers of hell. He has been especially honored and invoked as patron and protector by the Church from the time of the Apostles. Although he is always called "the Archangel," the Greek Fathers and many others place him over all the angels - as Prince of the Seraphim. St. Michael is the patron of grocers, mariners, paratroopers, police and sickness.

His symbol is the scales of justice because he is supposed to weigh men's souls at the end of time.

This 12' X 12" quilt block features those scales of justice. To download the free pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St Michael the Archangel

To be continued . . .

I've completed the 20 blocks for my quilt. I'll be sure to post the completed project when it is done, most likely in 2014.

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Rita

Saint Rita of Cascia (Born Margherita Lotti 1381 - May 22, 1457) was an Italian Augustinian nun, widow and saint venerated in the Roman Catholic Church. Rita was married at an early age. The marriage lasted for 18 years, during which she is remembered for her Christian values as a model wife and mother who made efforts to convert her husband from his abusive behavior. Upon the murder of her husband by another feuding family, she sought to dissuade her sons from revenge before their calamitous death.
She subsequently joined an Augustinian community of religious sisters, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the flesh and for the apparent efficacy of her prayers. St. Rita is venerated due to various miracles attributed to her intercession, and is often portrayed with a bleeding wound on her forehead, which the Roman Catholic Church claims to have been a partial stigmata.

The Roman Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII officially canonized Rita on May 24, 1900, while her feast day is celebrated every May 22. In many pious Catholic countries, Rita is known to be a patroness for abused wives and mourning women as well as impossible cases.

From Wikipedia 

St. Rita's symbols include a nail and roses. In this 12" x 12" quilt block, I've attempted to symbolically show the nail piercing her surrounded by flowers.

To download the free pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Rita

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha

St. Kateri was born near the town of Auriesville, New York, in the year 1656, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior. She was four years old when her mother died of smallpox. The disease also attacked Kateri and transfigured her face. She was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle. Kateri became converted as a teenager. She was baptized at the age of twenty and incurred the great hostility of her tribe. Although she had to suffer greatly for her Faith, she remained firm in it.

Kateri went to the new Christian colony of Indians in Canada. Here she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. Every morning, even in bitterest winter, she stood before the chapel door until it opened at four and remained there until after the last Mass. She was devoted to the Eucharist and to Jesus Crucified. 

She died on April 17, 1680 at the age of twenty-four. She is known as the "Lily of the Mohawks". Devotion to Kateri is responsible for establishing Native American ministries in Catholic Churches all over the United States and Canada. Kateri was declared venerable by the Catholic Church in 1943 and she was Beatified in 1980. Hundreds of thousands have visited shrines to Kateri erected at both St. Francis Xavier and Caughnawaga and at her birth place at Auriesville, New York. Pilgrimages at these sites continue today. 

From Catholic.org

  Symbols for St. Kateri include a lily for purity and a turtle for the Turtle Clan which she was part of. This 12" x 12" quilt block attempts to represent a turtle.

To download the free quilt pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Kateri

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Bernadette

St. Bernadette was born at Lourdes, France. Her parents were very poor and she herself was in poor health. One Thursday, February 11, 1858, when she was sent with her younger sister and a friend to gather firewood, a very beautiful Lady appeared to her above a rose bush in a grotto called Massabielle. The lovely Lady was dressed in blue and white. She smiled at Bernadette and then made the sign of the cross with a rosary of ivory and gold.

Bernadette fell on her knees, took out her own rosary and began to pray the rosary. The beautiful Lady was God's Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. She appeared to Bernadette seventeen other times and spoke with her. She told Bernadette that she should pray sinners, do penance and have a chapel built there in her honor. Many people did not believe Bernadette when she spoke of her vision. She had to suffer much.

But one day Our Lady told Bernadette to dig in the mud. As she did, a spring of water began to flow. The next day it continued to grow larger and larger. Many miracles happened when people began to use this water. When Bernadette was older, she became a nun. She was always very humble. More than anything else, she desired not to be praised. Once a nun asked her if she had temptations of pride because she was favored by the Blessed Mother. "How can I?" she answered quickly. "The Blessed Virgin chose me only because I was the most ignorant."

From http://www.catholic.org

St. Bernadette's symbol is a lily, for her purity, but seeing as I already created a quilt block with a lily in honor of our Blessed Mother, I needed to come up with a different symbol for this one. I've tried to create a version of the grotto at Lourdes.

To download the Free patter for this 12" x 12" quilt block, please visit Quilt Block in Honor of St. Bernadette

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Gianna

St. Gianna is one of my favorite modern saints. The following is her entry in Wikipedia.

Gianna Francesca Beretta was born in Magenta in Italy. She was the tenth of thirteen children in her family, only nine of whom survived to adulthood. When she was three, her family moved to Bergamo, and she grew up in the Lombardy region of Italy.
In 1942, Gianna began her study of medicine in Milan. Outside of her schooling, she was active in Azione Cattolica. She received a medical diploma in 1949, and opened an office in Mesero, near her hometown of Magenta, where she specialized in pediatrics.
Gianna hoped to join her brother, a missionary priest in Brazil, where she intended to offer her medical expertise in gynecology to poor women. However, her chronic ill health made this impractical, and she continued her practice in Italy.


In December 1954, Gianna met Pietro Molla, an engineer who worked in her office, ten years older than she. They were officially engaged the following April, and they married in September 1955.
They welcomed Pierluigi, in 1956, Mariolina, in 1957 and Laura, was born in 1959. Gianna suffered two miscarriages after this.

In 1961, Gianna was pregnant once again. During the second month, Gianna developed a fibroma on her uterus. After examination, the doctors gave her three choices: an abortion, a complete hysterectomy, or removal of only the fibroma. The Catholic Church forbids all direct abortion even when the woman's life is in danger, but Catholic teaching would have allowed her to undergo a hysterectomy, which would have resulted in her unborn child's death as an unintended consequence.

"Abortion – that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus – is never permitted...Operations, treatments, and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable, even if they will result in the death of the unborn child." – The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERD) Directive 45

Gianna opted for the removal of the fibroma, wanting to preserve her child's life.
After the operation, complications continued throughout her pregnancy. Gianna was quite clear about her wishes, expressing to her family, "This time it will be a difficult delivery, and they may have to save one or the other -- I want them to save my baby."

On April 21, 1962, Good Friday of that year, Gianna went to the hospital, where her fourth child, Gianna Emanuela, was successfully delivered via Caesarean section However, Gianna continued to have severe pain, and died of septic peritonitis 7 days after the birth.


Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, and officially canonized a saint on May 16, 2004. Gianna's husband Pietro, and their child Laura, were present at the canonization ceremony, the first time in the history of the Church that a husband witnessed his wife's canonization.

 In this 12" x 12" quilt block, I've tried to represent St. Gianna's dedication to both her children and her work as a doctor. Download the free pattern here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Gianna

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Cecilia

St Cecilia (2nd - 3rd century) is the patroness of musicians. She married a man named Valerian but told him that an angel guarded her and her virginity and that he could only see the angel if he were baptized. He converted and did see the angel. He then devoted his life to helping to bury Christian martyrs. He was then martyred himself.

As for Cecilia, she was sentenced to be beheaded for having preached and converted 400 people. The executioner was unable to sever her head and she was left bleeding for three days until she died. She was buried by Pope Urban.

Since St. Cecilia is the patroness of musicians, I created this block to resemble a piano or organ keyboard. The pattern shows it in black and white, but as you can see from the block I created, you can create it in any two contrasting colors.

The free pattern is available here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Cecilia

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Gertrude of Nivelles

St. Gertrude of Nivelles (626 - 659) is a patron saints of Cats, the Recently Diseased, Gardeners, Travelers, Those with Mental Illness, and Those with a Morbid Fear of Mice and Rats.  

Both her parents, Pepin of Landen and Itta were held to be holy by those who knew them; her sister Begga is numbered among the Saints. On her husband's death in 640, Itta founded a Benedictine monastery at Nivelles, which is near Brussels, and appointed Gertrude its abbess when she reached twenty, tending to her responsibilities well, with her mother's assistance, and following her in giving encouragement and help to monks, particularly Irish ones, to do missionary work in the locale.

Saint Gertrude's piety was evident even when she was as young as ten, when she turned down the offer of a noble marriage, declaring that she would not marry him or any other suitor: Christ alone would be her bridegroom.

She was known for her hospitality to pilgrims and her aid to missionary monks from Ireland as we indicated above: She gave land to one monk so that he could build a monastery at Fosse. By her early thirties Gertrude had become so weakened by the austerity of abstaining from food and sleep that she had to resign her office, and spent the rest of her days studying Scripture and doing penance. It is said that on the day before her death she sent a messenger to Fosse, asking the superior if he knew when she would die.

His reply indicated that death would come the next day during holy Mass----the prophecy was fulfilled. Her feast day of March 17 is observed by gardeners, who regard fine weather on that day as a sign to begin spring planting. 

(from http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/nivelles.htm)  

One of St. Gertrude's symbols is mice running up her staff, representing souls in purgatory. I've tried to represent this in this 12" x 12" quilt block. 

The free pattern can be found here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Gertrude of Nivelles.

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be a founder of the Discalced Carmelites along with John of the Cross.

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV and was in 1970 named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Her best-known writing is "The Interior Castle."

Her symbols are a heart, arrow, and books.

 For this 12" x 12" quilt block, I chose to create two intersecting arrows to represent St. Teresa's most well-known mystical experience. As she wrote, "He pierced my heart with the arrow of His love." The red in the center represents her heart. The brown field is representative of the Carmelite order.

Please click here to download the free pattern for this block: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Teresa of Avila.

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D, (25 March 1347 in Siena – 29 April 1380 in Rome) was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi.

 Symbols for St. Catherine include a ship, lily, dove, miniature church and a book.

 For this 12" x 12" quilt block, I went with the symbol of a ship. This block works up quickly and has a strong geometric design. 

Please download the free pattern here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Catherine of Siena

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Rose of Lima

 

St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled.

Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart."

Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honoured. Her feast is celebrated 23 of August. She is represented wearing a crown of roses. 

From Catholic.org.

 

 This 12" x 12" quilt block is my take on a crown of roses with the brown representing the thrones and the pink and red the roses. To download the free pattern, please visit: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Rose of Lima

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Monica

Saint Monica (331 A.D - 387 A.D.) is known as the mother of St. Augustine, who prayed (and cried) long and hard for her wayward son's conversion to Christianity. He went on to become one of the greatest saints.

This 12" x 12" quilt block could easily be titled "A Mother's Tears." The blue diamonds represent the tears St. Monica cried over her son. The green backdrop is a representation of St. Augustine and his excellence in philosophy.

This is a repeating pattern which could easily be worked up to create a whole quilt.

 Please download the free pattern: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Monica

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria

St. Catherine of Alexandria is believed to have been born in Alexandria of a noble family. After converting to Christianity, she denounced Maxentius for persecuting Christians.

Maxentius offered Catherine a royal marriage if she would deny the Faith. She refused and was imprisoned. While in prison, Catherine converted Maxentius' wife and two hundred of his soldiers. He had them all put to death. 

Catherine was likewise condemned to death. She was put on a spiked wheel, and when the wheel broke, she was beheaded. 

Her symbol is a spiked wheel.

 This is my take on the spiked wheel. It's a very simple quilt block, easy to work up. And it would be great as a repeating block in a quilt. You can work it up in any colors of your choosing, making sure to keep a rhythm of light and dark to provide some contrast. 

For the Free pdf pattern, please download: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Barbara

I apologize that it has been so long since I have posted one of these. I had to take a break during December for Christmas preparations, then in January I had to scrapbook photos from the past six months. So, I got back to quilting in February with this block in honor of St. Barbara. Honestly, this block gave me fits and took me much longer than most of my blocks do. As you can see the final product I created differs from the pattern. I offer this one as a creative challenge - I'm sure many of you out there could do this better than I did!

St. Barbara (4^th century) was brought up as a heathen. Her father, Dioscorus, kept her secluded in a tower, where she dedicated herself to prayer and study and received baptism in secret by a priest. Angered by her conversion, her father turned her over to the civil tribunal. She was tortured and beheaded by her father’s own hand. She is a patron of the U.S. Army Field Artillery. One of her symbols is a peacock feather, which is the basis for this 12" x 12" block.

 For the free download of this pattern, please visit: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Barbara