The etymology of the Economy Block is — as are many popular quilt blocks — complicated. According to Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, it’s titled Economy Patch by Carrie Hall and Rose Kretsinger around 1935. It’s also called the This and That block, in the Kansas City Star around 1944 (you know this is a favorite phrase). And more recently, it’s been known as the Thrift Block as when Taryn of ReproQuiltLover hosted the recent #scrappymeetsthriftchallenge. I have mentioned before that this year I had been making things that helped me make things: quilt-a-longs, Block of the Month, group projects, and so forth. And so this one joined the line-up, and I finished it this week.
I needed a title for this quilt, and since in early 2020 I had taught it to a small beginning quilt group as the Economy Block, so I went with that name (although many now call it Square in a Square).
Full quilt title: Economy: Gathering Up All The Fragments.
Economy, as we think about it, means thrift. Saving. Making do with less. The exchange of goods. A dollar is worth something and everything is for sale (as the old saying goes). But the idea of economy, says one wag, is really an enigmata**:
- Enigmata refers to things that are puzzling, mysterious, or riddles
- OR, a puzzling or inexplicable occurrence or situation
- OR, a person of puzzling or contradictory character.
- OR, a saying, picture, etc., containing a hidden meaning; riddle.
The title of this quilt comes from yet another riddle: the poet Emily Dickinson’s punctuation and shape of her small poems. Some think it began with this:
“‘Preserve the backs of old letters to write upon,’” wrote Lydia Maria Child in The Frugal Housewife, a book Dickinson’s father obtained for her mother when Emily was born. It opens: “‘The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time as well as materials.’” (from a review by Jen Bervin, titled Studies in Scale).
On one of her envelopes, Dickinson wrote: “Excuse | Emily and | her Atoms | The North | Star is | of small | fabric | but it | implies | much | presides | yet” (fragment A 636 /636a).
Like a star is small…but it is its own world.
Or an atom is small… but contains worlds.
Or fragments of fabrics are small…but put them together and they make a quilt.
In pulling fragments for this quilt, I opened bag after bag of small scraps from a decade ago, cut into 2 1/2″ squares or 3″ squares, as it had been recommended to me to do that in order to “use up your scraps.” Finally, I was using them up, so this quilt is as much a record of an era, as it is a complication of “gathering up all the fragments.”
Backing/binding is fabric from Tula Pink, and the quilting is the Continuous Baptist Fan, by Urban Elementz.
Quilt-making is an enigmata, isn’t it? We take our scraps, our fragments, cut them smaller, sew them back together to make something that expresses an idea or a sentiment. And we quilters do it over and over, saving scraps, repeating the process “so that nothing be lost.”
This is Quilt #312, and the last for 2025, as there are no more fragments of time to add to the calendar. I will, however, try to get up another post or two of the beautiful Carrefour quilts, but no promises.
I do promise, however, to make merry the rest of the month and be of good cheer!
Other Posts about this quilt and its process
The Economy Block was in the series First Monday Sew-days, which has morphed to the title Beginning Quilters. There are a raft of free handouts here.
A Life Full of Yes (which includes the free pattern for this quilt block)
This and That • August 2025 (and a rant about AI)
NOTE: I put the quilt label on the side, as it doesn’t matter which is the top or which is the bottom. It’s really a great size for naps: 60″ x 72.” I use BlockBase+, which is basically Brackman’s book, but in digital form. I also have her book in paper form, too. I’ve been thinking a lot about my quilt tools, such as the software and book, so will try to note them here on the blog as they’ve been used.
**Apologies to Honkai: Star Rail fans, who see Enigmata as something a bit different. And there is more on Enigmata writings by ancient figures, if you are curious.
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 