Block 3 - bowing to Baltimore tradition...

I couldn't do a Baltimore Album influenced musical quilt without the most commonly seen musical instrument in antique Baltimore blocks - the lyre.  Harps and simple horns are sometimes seen as well.  I figured that the simplicity of the lyre would balance the complexity of other instruments.

The lyre was an ancient stringed instrument that had 3 to 12 strings, a simple way to tighten the strings to change pitch, and was commonly strummed with the hand.  Evidence of lyres dates back to ancient Sumaria, dating from 3000 B.C. (it is thought that King David played a form of lyre called a kinnor, as mentioned in the Bible).

Glue basting the petals of the country rose together, working off block.

The lyre was most popular in ancient Greece and appears in Greek Mythology where it was believed to be invented by Apollo.  A son of Zeus apparently played the lyre and the sound conjured huge heavy stones to move into place while the walls were built around the city of Thebes.
 

Gee...maybe if I had one of those, I could practice and at the same time conjure my housework to be done...  

Prepping the bases of the rosebuds.

I would guess that women chose the lyre for their blocks because the Greek myths were commonly known, it represented music and knowledge of the classics, and it was easy to draw.  

Referencing the pattern through the background, the stems, leaves, and buds are glue basted into place.

I chose to draw a large one and keep it simple by only depicting 3 strings.  I'm sure ancient man was blowing and beating on other things, making crude music or at least a beat to dance to, but I included a lyre as sort of the "mother" of later instruments.  

All the laurel branch pieces are placed and glue basted before the lyre and large rose are positioned.

Click here to see how I constructed the country rose, placed at the base of the lyre, crowning the laurel wreath.