Nature has long inspired quilters. As American quilting developed in Eastern seaboard settlements, it is not surprising that early quilt designs and pattern names often carried a nautical flair. In New England, quilts were influenced by the lives of the people who lived and worked there, and for many New Englanders, the overwhelming force was the ocean. Many traditional quilt patterns honor their influential neighbor. Some common New England nautical patterns are Mariner’s Compass, Ship of Life, Storm At Sea, Ocean Waves, and World Without End. The Ocean Waves quilts did not remain on the East Coast but traveled westward with the migrating population. By the latter half of the 19th century, “the Ocean Waves pattern was a staple of the American quiltmaker’s repertoire – even on the vast plains and in mountain reaches where the ocean itself seemed little more than a traveler’s tall tale or a half forgotten dream” (“American Patchwork & Quilting,” 1985). In the early 20th. century, the land-locked Midwestern Amish made many amazing full-sized quilts in the pattern, as well as crib quilts featuring just two or three blocks.

The pattern initially ap-peared in about 1855 and was very popular from 1880 to 1920. It was first published by Farm and Fireside in 1894 as Ocean Waves, which has remained the most common name for the block. Other published names include Waves of the Ocean, Odds and Ends, Odd Fellows Quilt, and Our Village Green. It features pieced triangle waves that cascade across the quilt, especially when the blocks are set on point creating interlocking X’s or a lattice look. For a calmer sea, the blocks can be straight set, which results in a cross design or grid pattern. The pattern is a “quilt of illusion” as it tricks the eye, and it is often difficult to see the pattern and determine where one block ends and another begins. Unlike many quilt blocks that are framed, Ocean Wave blocks are generally joined together without sashing strips, in an allover design. The pattern consists of four elongated hexagons (or lozenges) pieced around a center diamond or square to create an octagon block. It was traditionally hand pieced with difficult inset and partial seams. In 1935, quilt historian Carrie Hall noted it is “one of the authentic old-fashioned quilt patterns with a tang of the sea which shows its coastwise ancestry. It was a decided favorite with those who wished to put considerable piecing into the making of a beautiful quilt.”

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