Civil War Blocks - MARCH

My choice of block for March is CABIN WINDOWS. This block represents the slave cabins on the plantations. When the government WPA project spoke to former slaves in the 1930's many consistencies came across in the interviews in the descriptions of clothing and housing. We all know the plantation owners lived in the great big, grand plantations. Their slaves were not given such luxuries. The slaves quarters were often built of poor construction usually built from pine, allowing the cold and rain to enter in. They really were not fit to live in but it was a roof over their heads and many times they did have a fireplace to use for heat and cooking. Depending on the plantation, depended on the size and number of families in one cabin. Many times it was one room, no more than two to two families. It was definitely cramped quarters.

I think this is my favorite so far and it's gonna be hard to beat. I just love the colors, the pattern....love it!



Doing some research I found a few photos of some slave quarters:

Slave house at Thornhill Planation, Greene County, Alabama
Slave quarters at Belmont Plantation, Colbert County, Alabama
Slave quarters at Doughoregran Manor, Howard County, Maryland

Here's a sneak peak of the fabrics for my April block.....stay tuned!



To read more about why and how I was inspired to do a Civil War quilt this year:CLICK HERE

Civil War Blocks - FEBRUARY

My block this month is the COTTON BOLL block. This block represents the slave economy. Without cotton, slavery may have very well died out for all we know. Cotton and slavery were very interwoven. Many of the anti-slavery activists refused to wear cotton clothing. After the end of slavery, many of the freed slaves remained dependent on white landowners because they had no land of their own and no where to go. They stayed on the plantations and worked as sharecroppers in return for a share of the profits. Of course their share of the profits was not much. While there were many attempts to invent a successful cotton picker machine, it wasn't until 1980 that John Deer produced a 4-row cotton picker, the first in the industry. There are only 2 cotton pickers in use today.



I used 2 fabrics for this block. Here's just a small close up of them.




A sneak peak at March's block:


To read more about why and how I was inspired to do a Civil War quilt this year:CLICK HERE

Lincoln's Home - Cross Stitch

It's done! I started this back in 2001 and finally finished it! It's still in the hoop. I kinda like it that way and I may leave it. I'm going to hang this in my sewing area of my craft room.



I love Abe Lincoln. Maybe I'm a little partial, being I grew up just south of Springfield, Illinois but he was one of the best US Presidents in my opinion. If you've never been to his home and are in the Springfield area sometime, you really should stop by and visit his beautiful home.

Civil War Blocks - JANUARY

The block I chose this month is called "LOST SHIP". It represents the ocean voyages made too many times bringing slaves to the New World from Africa. Only about 3 of every 4 persons packed into the holds of these slave ships arrived alive.



To read more about why and how I was inspired to do a Civil War quilt this year:CLICK HERE

2011 - CIVIL WAR QUILT

My top project for 2011 is a Civil War Tribute Quilt. I've been wanting to do one of these for a very long time and I've been purchasing and saving fabric just for this project. I've chosen this year to work on this project since this year is the 160th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.
I was first inspired to do a civil war quilt after reading Jennifer Chiaverini's "The Runaway Quilt".

Reading this book made me dig deeper into the quilts made during and shortly after the Civil War. I wanted to find historically accurate information about these quilts. I began to wonder if quilts were really used for "code" in-conjunction with the Underground Railroad. As I begin to dig, as much as I hate to admit it, I found the endearing tale of quilts being used as a code to help slaves escape has never been proven. There are NO first person accounts of this happening. Now, being the day dreamer, happy ending person I am I still like to sometimes think that maybe the first person account just got lost, maybe it's a secret that will never be out in the open, maybe....just maybe.....

There have been many historical fiction books written on or including the tale of quilt codes for the Underground Railroad. I love fiction probably just as much as the next person - and I love historical fiction but we have to remember as readers that authors can and do embellish their work for the sake of their stories. They have the creative right to do so but it can cause things to get a little fuzzy once in a while causing the readers to blur the lines of what is historical and what is fiction. Unfortunately in classrooms across the country as well as in several children's books, children are being taught that quilts were used as "codes" when there's just nothing to prove that it's true. Here's a quick FACT SHEET about the "quilt code".

In searching for more historically accurate information on this topic, I quickly found a woman, Barbara Brackman, who is a quilt historian. Barbara has a lot of information on her website about not just civil war quilts but all kind of quilts though out history!

If you are really interested in this controversy be sure to read Ted Pack's sermon on this topic. Ted is actually the webmaster for his church. However, he got himself caught into the middle of this controversy when simply posting a notice on the church website of a lecture on "Quilt Codes and the Underground Railroad". It really is a fun, interesting read and I actually found myself chuckling in several spots.

Because of my research I decided I would not be calling my quilt an "underground railroad" quilt. It's more of a tribute quilt. A tribute to the history of the Civil War. A tribute to those who were in slavery. A tribute to those who were lucky to be freed when the time came. A tribute to those who worked so hard to help free those who were bound in slavery. A tribute to the families who were separated; many who never saw each other ever again.

I'm using the book "Facts & Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery" by Barbara Brackman. This book has 8 projects, 20 blocks and many first person accounts of the Civil War. I will be choosing 12 different blocks - all for a different significance of the Civil War. My challenge for myself is to do 1 quilt block a month for this quilt for 12 months. Each month I will blog my finished block along with the name of the block, why I choose that block and what its significance to the Civil War is.


Here are the fabrics I have lined up for this project....aren't the beautiful! I love fabric. These fabrics were purchased at Autumn Rose Quilting, The Fat Quarter Shop and my local quilt shop.


CIVIL WAR ANTHEM by Moda

ABRAHAM'S DAUGHTER (1850-1870) by Moda

QUAKER QUILTS from Marcus Fabrics (reds) (I'm not sure about the yellow fabric but it was purchased at my LQS and is a reproduction fabric from same era)

Clean Craft Room for 2011

Today I had a "snow day" (it's still snowing as I type this - it's been snowing all day, very unusual for our area of the country). So I decided to take today to and clean up my sewing and craft area and get it ready for 2011. I should have taken some "before" photos but trust me - it was a mess! I spent a good 6 hours throwing things away, going through drawers, moving things around, find a home for stuff that had been growing into high stacks of just "stuff".




Here's the full shot. I scrapbook/craft on one side and sew on the other side. Considering my space is limited, it's more than I've ever had and this works for me (for now).

I love the square storage modules. I get them at Michael's Arts & Crafts. My mother-in-law bought me a new one for my birthday. Who knew adding this one module would allow me to rearrange almost all my stuff - organizing and storing stuff away off of my table allowing me more crop/scrap room! I love this one! She also bought me a set of the pegboard that can be added onto any of the modules. I do need more pegs though, they only came with 4 (as my daughter says - lame. It would have been nice to have a few more)







We (being me and my daughter who was a huge help to me today) also organized the ribbon holder. We had several that needed to be added as well.




Following photos show my cabinet and module storage. I cannot tell you how much I love these modules! My Cricut is standing by waiting to be used more this year as well.





And lastly, a full look at the sewing side - of course usually the ironing board is sitting out - it's a tight space but doable. I'm doing my own 2011 block of the month - Civil War quilt blocks. Stay tuned as I plan on blogging monthly about the block I make. I'm so excited to have the space all cleaned up to start working on these blocks!

Field Flowers Acrylic Album

My last class to blog on is the Field Flowers Acrylic Album. I took this because well, it looked fun.

We used a small 4x6 acrylic album. It had 5 very sturdy acrylic panels and can display up to as many as 9 photos when filled. It's very beginner-friendly and great for kids too!