Lucy Boston - Her Life, Her Patchwork, and Her Legacy of Design

Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses blocks have long been delicious inspiration for quilters to try their hands at English Paper Piecing. Here, Lisa Sliva takes a closer look at this incredible woman's life and quilts.

Lucy

Who was Lucy Boston?

War nurse, single mother, painter, home restorationist, gardener, author, music aficionado, and patchwork enthusiast. Lucy Boston was an artist in everything she did.


She left her English studies at the University of Oxford at the beginning of World War I to become a war nurse. After the war ended, she eventually married (and divorced), traveling Europe to study art with her son, Peter.

Photo of Lucy Boston

In 1939, after falling in love with the Manor at Hemingford Grey years before, she bought it for 2,500 GBP. And, at a time when most of the neighbors were modernizing their homes, Lucy caused quite the neighborhood sensation when she restored the oldest inhabited house in the country back to its original Norman design.

The Manor at Hemingford Grey

Her Home as Artistic Inspiration

Her home would become the inspiration for the beloved series of Greene Knowe children’s novels, which she began writing in her 60s. Furthermore, it became a refuge for military personnel during the second World War, where twice weekly she held music nights, playing music for the soldiers from a gramophone. Today, her and her son’s artwork adorn the walls of the home, under the care of her daughter-in-law, Diana Boston.

And, it's not surprising that Lucy’s love for patchwork began when she bought two patchwork quilts as curtains for the old house. They required a great deal of mending, which sparked her desire to create her own patchwork. The curtains hang in the Manor to this day. 


As integral as patchwork became to Lucy and her home, according to Diana, anyone visiting the Manor would have rarely found Lucy stitching. She would have thought it rude to stitch when entertaining people. But, her patchwork quilts tell the story of a quilter who fell head over heels for English paper piecing, like so many of us have today.

Patchwork curtain, photo credit Julia Hedgecoe

Lucy Boston's Patchwork of the Crosses

Lucy’s most famous patchwork quilt, known as the Patchwork of the Crosses, is one of about 20 patchwork quilts Lucy made. According to her daughter-in-law, Diana, she created all of the stunning fussy cuts and kaleidoscope designs in her mind's eye before cutting each piece out with scissors.


This quilt has been created and recreated by countless quilters throughout the years, and is one of the top 10 most famous patchwork quilts in the world. It uses the lovely 1” honeycomb to create square shaped blocks, beginning with a cross in the middle of each block and radiating out for an additional 3 rounds.

Patchwork of the Crosses by Lucy Boston closeup photo credit Julia Hedgecoe

In Lucy’s original quilt, she surrounded each block with cream colored honeycombs before joining the blocks with a “sashing” of squares. It was a formidable undertaking, but the result is stunning, and it draws quilters from around the world to make the pilgrimage to the Manor at Hemingford Grey every year.

Patchwork of the Crosses by Lucy Boston photo credit Julia Hedgecoe
Lucy

Lucy's Terrace Quilt

When a quilt design has become so well loved, it can feel a bit sacrilegious to tamper with tradition. However, Lucy was anything but traditional in her life. As we’ve learned, she was a single mom and independent homeowner in a time when women didn’t do such things. She had the grit to be a war time nurse, and she compassionately cared for not only wounded soldiers as patients but active soldiers, in whatever way she could during each of the World Wars.


And, when it came to patchwork, or English paper piecing, she blazed her own trail of design to the point that we now love and appreciate her ingenuity decades later.

So, when it comes to the Tales of Cloth rendering of this iconic quilt, Lucy’s Terrace honors both the traditional and the modern. It takes Lucy Boston’s block from the Patchwork of the Crosses, increases the size of each shape from 1” to 1 ¼” and sets the blocks on point. Finally, it does away with the large block borders and jumps right to the square sashing. The result is a stunning, timeless quilt that anyone can achieve.

Lucy

Make your own Lucy Boston inspired quilt!

Whether you have never made a “Lucy Boston” block, or you have a collection of them, this quilt pattern might just inspire you to try out some fussy cutting, finish some blocks, and make an heirloom quilt of your own.


Grab a copy of the Lucy’s Terrace PDF pattern, an EPP quilt kit, and some acrylic templates in the shop to make your own Lucy Boston inspired quilt today!

Sources:


Hill, Albert, “A Place Like No Other: the 12th-century house that set a writer’s staggering second wind in motion” Inigo Almanac, June 2023, accessed July 24, 2023, https://inigo.com/almanac/a-place-like-no-other-lucy-boston-the-manor-hemingford-grey.


Knapp, Florence. “The Patchworks of Lucy Boston.” Flossie Teacakes’ Guide to English Paper Piecing: Exploring the Fussy-Cut World of Precision Patchwork, The Quilting Company, 2018 , pp. 38-41.


“Patchworks” The Manor, Hemingford Grey, accessed July 24, 2023, https://www.greenknowe.co.uk/patchworks/. Some photos by Julia Hedgecoe, hover for credit.


12 comments


  • James

    Hi,

    I’m interested in buying links or sponsored content on talesofcloth.com.

    Is this something that you can offer?

    Thanks,
    James
    www.linkpartners.info

    To UNSUBSCRIBE and never get contacted again: https://linkpartners.info/unsubscribe-page/
    To ADD YOUR SITE to our business network: https://linkpartners.info/subscribe-page/ , or simply reply to this email.


  • Eric Jones

    Dear

    My name’s Eric and I just found your site talesofcloth.com.

    It’s got a lot going for it, but here’s an idea to make it even MORE effective.

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc for a live demo now.

    Web Visitors Into Leads is a software widget that’s works on your site, ready to capture any visitor’s Name, Email address and Phone Number. It signals you the moment they let you know they’re interested – so that you can talk to that lead while they’re literally looking over your site.

    And once you’ve captured their phone number, with our new SMS Text With Lead feature, you can automatically start a text (SMS) conversation… and if they don’t take you up on your offer then, you can follow up with text messages for new offers, content links, even just “how you doing?” notes to build a relationship.

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to discover what Web Visitors Into Leads can do for your business.

    The difference between contacting someone within 5 minutes versus a half-hour means you could be converting up to 100X more leads today!

    Eric
    PS: Studies show that 70% of a site’s visitors disappear and are gone forever after just a moment. Don’t keep losing them.
    Web Visitors Into Leads offers a FREE 14 days trial – and it even includes International Long Distance Calling.
    You have customers waiting to talk with you right now… don’t keep them waiting.
    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to try Talk With Web Visitor now.

    If you’d like to unsubscribe click here https://bit.ly/3rD0G5c


  • Eric Jones

    Hi

    My name’s Eric and I just found your site talesofcloth.com.

    It’s got a lot going for it, but here’s an idea to make it even MORE effective.

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc for a live demo now.

    Web Visitors Into Leads is a software widget that’s works on your site, ready to capture any visitor’s Name, Email address and Phone Number. It signals you the moment they let you know they’re interested – so that you can talk to that lead while they’re literally looking over your site.

    And once you’ve captured their phone number, with our new SMS Text With Lead feature, you can automatically start a text (SMS) conversation… and if they don’t take you up on your offer then, you can follow up with text messages for new offers, content links, even just “how you doing?” notes to build a relationship.

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to discover what Web Visitors Into Leads can do for your business.

    The difference between contacting someone within 5 minutes versus a half-hour means you could be converting up to 100X more leads today!

    Eric
    PS: Studies show that 70% of a site’s visitors disappear and are gone forever after just a moment. Don’t keep losing them.
    Web Visitors Into Leads offers a FREE 14 days trial – and it even includes International Long Distance Calling.
    You have customers waiting to talk with you right now… don’t keep them waiting.
    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to try Talk With Web Visitor now.

    If you’d like to unsubscribe click here https://bit.ly/3rD0G5c


  • Eric Jones

    Hello talesofcloth.com Owner. I just found your site, quick question…

    My name’s Eric, I found talesofcloth.com after doing a quick search – you showed up near the top of the rankings, so whatever you’re doing for SEO, looks like it’s working well.

    So here’s my question – what happens AFTER someone lands on your site? Anything?

    Research tells us at least 70% of the people who find your site, after a quick once-over, they disappear… forever.

    That means that all the work and effort you put into getting them to show up, goes down the tubes.

    Why would you want all that good work – and the great site you’ve built – go to waste?

    Because the odds are they’ll just skip over calling or even grabbing their phone, leaving you high and dry.

    But here’s a thought… what if you could make it super-simple for someone to raise their hand, say, “okay, let’s talk” without requiring them to even pull their cell phone from their pocket?

    You can – thanks to revolutionary new software that can literally make that first call happen NOW.

    Web Visitors Into Leads is a software widget that sits on your site, ready and waiting to capture any visitor’s Name, Email address and Phone Number. It lets you know IMMEDIATELY – so that you can talk to that lead while they’re still there at your site.

    You know, strike when the iron’s hot!

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to try out a Live Demo with Web Visitors Into Leads now to see exactly how it works.

    When targeting leads, you HAVE to act fast – the difference between contacting someone within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes later is huge – like 100 times better!

    That’s why you should check out our new SMS Text With Lead feature as well… once you’ve captured the phone number of the website visitor, you can automatically kick off a text message (SMS) conversation with them.

    Imagine how powerful this could be – even if they don’t take you up on your offer immediately, you can stay in touch with them using text messages to make new offers, provide links to great content, and build your credibility.

    Just this alone could be a game changer to make your website even more effective.

    Strike when the iron’s hot!

    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to learn more about everything Web Visitors Into Leads can do for your business – you’ll be amazed.

    Thanks and keep up the great work!

    Eric
    PS: Web Visitors Into Leads offers a FREE 14 days trial – you could be converting up to 100x more leads immediately!
    It even includes International Long Distance Calling.
    Stop wasting money chasing eyeballs that don’t turn into paying customers.
    CLICK HERE https://bit.ly/leadgenerationc to try Web Visitors Into Leads now.

    If you’d like to unsubscribe click here https://bit.ly/3rD0G5c


  • Sushama

    It’s always great to hear about the designer and her story.


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.