Belle's Favorite

There are hundreds – probably thousands – of quilt blocks with names attached, like Crazy Anne, Aunt Mary’s Tulips, Sarah’s Choice, Fanny’s Favorite, Dinah’s Pride, Fred’s Spool, Grandma Dexter, Kathy’s Ramble, Jack’s Delight, and so on. Every single time I run across one of these blocks, I find myself wondering about the person for whom it was named. Did Jack actually make a quilt with these blocks that gave him delight? Or was he delighted that someone else made the quilt for him?  For a few of these blocks, like Clay’s Choice and Lincoln’s Platform, it’s easy to make an educated guess as to why they bear the names they do. But with most of them I’ll just have to wonder. Who was Belle? Is it short for Isabelle, for Annabelle, or something else entirely? Or was she simply a southern belle? And why was this unpleasant and awkward block her favorite? I guess I’ll never know.