Churn Dash

How do quilt blocks get their names anyway? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that the name “Churn Dash” is associated with butter churns.

My husband and I inherited a wooden butter churn and I think it’s quite old. I was interested enough to look online for more info and here is what I found. The Barnard butter churn is cute and rustic but missing some vital parts so it doesn’t have a lot of monetary value. That’s okay.

Did you know that butter churns range in size from small to large? Some were made of glass and some were made of wood. Some were hand cranked (picture a large mason jar with a metal lid and handle) and others like the one we have had to be pumped up and down.

I couldn’t resist putting the butter churn in front of the churn dash quilt I made.

Look at the similarity between the butter churn above and the butter churn below. I don’t know much about the photo, but it’s been dated circa 1910.

Is this woman happy about getting a new butter churn? It’s hard to tell.

The internet says that a lot of butter was churned during the summer. That coincides with the time of year when there was more grass available for the cows to eat. Also it’s preferable to churn butter when the temperature is between 60 and 80 degrees.

I had this romantic daydream of what it was like 100 years ago. Maybe it was relaxing to sit in a rocker on the porch making butter. Then I shake my head and snap out of it. I like modern conveniences way too much.

The churn dash block is the fourth in a series of blocks I made for My Small World by Jen Kingwell.