I was moving some stuff today and found these, I acquired them in a box of sewing stuff at an auction several years ago and don't know a thing about them. Thought I would let you all see them.

wow, neat find. are you going to try to put them together?

They are lovely! What a treasure.Such a folkart feeling.

good find - you will have to put them together!!!

Inquiring minds want to know! Seriously what a great find! :-)

I would get rid of the ones that look like Nazi symbols. Never know who you could anger. Have you seen any quilts made with that design before?

Marknfran, I never thought about them looking like Nazi symbols and no I have never even seen one of these blocks much less a quilt with them.

I had not either, but my husband was passing by my computer while I was looking and he took offense to the fact that someone would make one. I told him it was just a design.

Bet they are some quilters sample collection. I have some of my aunt's from ages ago. Mostly I just take them out and look at them from time to time

Lovely old darlings, aren't they?

These are really neat. I think I would trim them up and frame them...maybe in a collage. Putting the little ones in the same frame with a black felt background.

I think the one referred to as nazi is called a
rolling pinwheel. Thanks for sharing.

That rolling pinwheel is one of the oldest designs in quilting and had nothing to do with any country. It would make a wonderful wall hanging.

There neat. I would trim them up and put together. Frame it and hang it. It has a vintage look to me. Thanks for sharing.

Lovely old blocks .. and I wouldn't get rid of any of them.
Those blocks.. one of which is called Flyfoot.. and the symbols were around LONG before Adolph Hitler.. it is just unfortunate that he chose it for a symbol to "misuse". Can't wait to see what you make! A lovely piece of quilting history.

they almost look like they could be Dear Jane blocks...I would press them really good using starch and then re-size them to be sure they are all the same size and use them in something...I love old materials etc

They look very old.......like me!

Nazi symbol? do you mean the pinwheel?

We might hesitate to use that design today but I wonder if they were made pre-WWII. They look pretty old.

Yes keep them all.Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.

Such a treasure..can't wait to see what you will create with them.

Very nice! I especially like the first one.

Because of their apparent age, I wouldn't get rid of any of them until I was sure what they were. It may resemble a Nazi insignia, but may be something entirely different. They are truly a piece of the past and worth treasuring.

I think the pink and whit Flyfoot square on this page is the same square as the blue and white one in second row above.

http://www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore1.html

WOW!

So beautiful. Do you know any of the history behind them?

Yes, I was thinking that the swastike symbol was used to represent love before Hitler's time.

Some of those were known as "waterwheel" or other names, and before the Nazi era nobody thought of them looking like anything sinister. The swastika is actually an ancient Sanskrit symbol for good luck or something like that, and who knows how the Nazis happened to adopt it for their own use. It probably just indicates the blocks are pre-WW2, because that design certainly fell out of favor. Maybe you could use them in a quilt if you appliqued something over them to alter the look, or lop off the corners by piecing triangles onto them?