July's Block is Oklahoma Boomer in Red OR Blue

The Ladies Art Company first published the Oklahoma Boomer block in 1898. I have always loved this block and couldn't resist including it for the block lotto in this year of traditional blocks.

. . . It's just a happy coincidence that I saw a production of The Wizard of Oz a week ago and keep seeing the Tin Man, an alternate name you might also see for this block, as in Judy Hopkins & Nancy Martin’s book, 101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts.

In July, our guidelines for fabric will be:

Main fabric (AKA BOOMER) will be RED or BLUE tone-on-tone (TOT) prints. if you make multiple blocks, you must use a different BOOMER fabric for each.

Background fabric will be cream TOT prints. You may use the same BACKGROUND fabric in all of your blocks.

(Thanks to Kathy in Colorado for this blue Boomer.)

Directions for the block are found here: Oklahoma Boomer Quilt Block. I didn't see an easy way to paper piece this little guy (in less than 4 units), but Debbie DID. Julie has created the Paper Foundation Piecing pattern for the block, as well as her original "Boomerette"block. If you would like to paper piece the block, contact me by email and I'll forward the PDF files to you.

Since LIFE was in the way and I couldn't even think about building a virtual quilt for inspiration this month, how about this Tin Man quilt from Hopkins and Martin's book. Even if you're not so hot on the Red-Blue-Cream colorway, you can see how adding a fourth color in the sashing might take the blocks in a new direction . . . and you still might want to enter (and maybe WIN!)

This quilt keeps it quite traditional with the addition of gold, but how about adding more of a true yellow for a red-blue-yellow primary colorway, or a bright multicolor print for a more contemporary look? I think an imaginative winner could take these blocks in a lot of directions . . . if a patriotic BOOMER wasn't their cup of tea. (Of course, a Patriotic Boomer quilt could be pretty wonderful, if it was ;-)

I think a row quilt of alternating rows of red boomers and blue boomers "holding hands" could be fun, too.