Coxey's Camp Quilt Block

 One of the things I inherited from my grandmother was her quilt books.  I've been going through them a few at a time and keeping patterns or articles that seem interesting.  In this June 1978 issue of Quilt World had an article about how quilts get their names.  The article about Coxey's Camp also had the pattern.

The block was named after Jacob Coxey who lead a peaceful march from Ohio to Washington in 1894.  It was the first march on Washington and was over before it got started.  Coxey was arrested for trespassing as soon as he stepped on Capitol grounds, for walking on the grass.  Coxey would later beome mayor of Massillon, Ohio and nominated for President in 1932.  He promoted reform for the unemployed, improvements of roads and public works.  

The quilt block was designed by a quilter that may have had some connection to Coxey's Army that marched on Washington, possibly allowing the "army" of about 500 men, to camp on her land while they were traveling (at least that is what the article speculates).

I made a copy of the pattern pieces from the magazine.  There were no instructions, I wasn't even sure if the pattern included the seam allowance or not.  Following the picture and the limited cutting instruction on each piece, I worked on one block.

 It turned out to be a 7 inch square (I did not add a seam allowance to the pieces).  However I had to trim a bit off the long strips and the blocks in the corner to get it to fit properly.

Then I searched on the internet for another pattern and found one for a 12 inch block at Quilt Block Galore.  Here are the two blocks together.

Most of the quilts I found using this block, used the same colors throughout.  I wasn't sure if I like the look of  limited colors.  I've been playing with other colors to make a sampler of many colors.

 The block goes together really quickly.   I like the squares on point in the center of each block and I like the Four Patch that comes together in the corners when the sampler blocks are put together.

I played with a few more colors, yellows/blacks and greens/white/rose.

Here are the four different blocks of color that I did this weekend.  One of my greens/yellows looks like it's faded, but still pretty.  I'm going to just keep playing with scarps and add as I go along.