This month’s Block of the Month is Grandma’s house and a couple of the large black walnut trees that lined the driveway. It was a modest little house but it certainly felt like home from the moment you entered it. This is a double block that finished at 15″ x 10″ and it is part of the center of the quilt in the same row as the Barnyard. There are only two more blocks after this one, we are on the home stretch!
Grandma’s house always smelled of delicious food. She was always cooking and baking. She loved to cook and would design her own recipes, especially cookie recipes. A local radio program would sponsor a contest and Grandma’s homemade cookies won every time. Do you remember Kitchen Klatter out of Shenandoah, Iowa? We would listen to the program together and try to write down all of the recipes.
The trees depicted in the picture are black walnut trees. My Grandpa would gather them up and pick nut meats all winter. Black walnuts have a unique flavor and they tasted wonderful in a cake or eaten straight out of the bag!
Are you sewing along? If you are, post it on Instagram and tag me @lorimillerdesigns and #GrandmaTownBOM so I can see what lovely things you are stitching up. A comprehensive pattern and directions for the Home Sweet Home double block along with the whole BOM is currently in development.
Grandma Town Block of the Month
If you are new to the Grandma Town BOM, this row by row quilt was a labor of love to celebrate my Iowa roots. I spent my childhood visiting my Grandparents on their farm just west of Des Moines in Earlham, Iowa. It is especially a tribute to my dear Grandma.
When my sisters, brother and I were little and my parents would drive us to my grandparents farm, my brother would yell, “We are going to Grandma Town!”. It was a loving tribute that stuck. This little quilt is full of those reminders of the farm and of Grandma, who loved to garden and loved to cook. Each block is a sweet memory of my youth growing up on that country farm.
I hope you will find some shared love for your family, a cherished farm or your own grandma in my quilt. You can make all of these sweet blocks or pick and choose the blocks you like the most to make something special for yourself or a dear loved one.
Released Blocks – 2015
FEB Block 1 – Forget Me Not Flower
APR Block 3 – Nine Patch and Color Block Rows
AUG Block 7 – Barnyard Double Block
Lori Miller Designs 
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