Everyone knows the
story of the Garden of Eden, but few can identify the four rivers that
watered this fertile spot: they are the Pison, the Gihon, the Hiddekel,
and the Euphrates. The quilt block pattern is pieced with an intersecting
"cross" that could represent the four rivers of hte Garden coming together.
Each river passed through an ancient Middle East land, possibly represented
in this pattern by the four corner squares.
"And the Lord God planted a garden
eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And
a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it
was parted, and became into four heads." (Genesis 2, verses 8 and 10).
The fertile area was rich
in natural resources, including gold. It is interesting to note tht
both arcaeologist and Bible scholars place the cradle of civilization in
this area of the Eastern Mediterranean Basin and the area east of it.
This quilt block is often
done with a green shade in the corners, representing hte garden, a blue
print for the contrasting land, and solid blue for the rivers.
Color A = light
Color B = medium
Color C = dark
# 1 cut 2 pieces
#2 cut 1 piece
piece #1 and #2 make the cross sections of the block.
#3 cut 4 pieces 4" x 4". These squares will be
put on point to form the outer 4 sections
#4 cut 4 squares. Cut on the diagonal to make 8 triangles. These triangles will be sewn together to the squares #3 to make outer sections of the block
diagram #5
following diagram #5 sew #4 and #3 together to make the outer square sections.
diagram #6
follow diagram #6 sewing # one to two of the outer sections.
With right sides together sew to center cross bar #2
Hopefully my instructions are becoming clearer as time goes on... your comments are important to me. I am sure I will look back on these early attempts I will laugh a great deal after I get over the horror that I thought they were pretty good for a beginner. <G>.
I do hope you are enjoying the patterns as well as some of the lore that goes with these blocks.
finished block 12 1/2"