BOW #4: Broken Dishes

One of the first quilted pieces I made was a Broken Dishes--or, at least I thought it was!  Broken Dishes is made of a specific arrangement of--you guessed it--half-square triangle units (HSTs).  I made the HSTs (with templates--this was before rotary cutters) and arranged each one of them randomly, rather than arranging four of them in the specific pattern. (There is no end to the number of blocks I have creatively edited in this fashion!  It's too bad that I didn't know at the time that I was being creative.)   I still like it, and it hung over my fireplace for several years.

But the Broken Dishes in the icon quilt is the traditional block arrangement.  To make the 12" block you will need 4 HSTs that will finish at 6".  (For a 6" block you would use 3" finished HSTs, for an 8" block you would use 4" finished HSTs, etc.)  See the first BOW post for methods of making HSTs, or use your own favorite method.

This would look great as a two-fabric quilt, such as blue and white, or red and white.  That could be still be scrappy, using a variety of blues or reds.  Or, you could make it very scrappy by using a great many light and dark fabrics.


This block is also known as Broken Crockery.  For all its simplicity it's wonderful block!