More Things That Can Go Wrong

A snapshot brings up some intriguing questions:

Is it a rug? Is it just one of those things with shall we say, unresolved edge issues.

A top from about 1900. More questions. Border or ruffle?

Will it quilt out?

Was polyester double knit ever a good idea?

150 Years Ago in the Civil War

Julia Ward Howe published the

Battle Hymn of the Republic in 1862

2012 is the 150th anniversary of the second year of the Civil War, the second of five years. This year's reproduction print collection 1862 Battle Hymn, commemorates events of that year when Americans realized that the Confederates were not to be intimidated or easily subdued, that Union armies needed training and leadership and that Civil War meant battles in the front yard.

A family stunned by the nearby Battle of Cedar Mountain, 1862

Detail of a photo from the Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwp.4a39506/ 

  

Julia Ward Howe wrote new words to the song that Union soldiers sang as they marched. Her Battle Hymn of the Republic was published in the February, 1862 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, to become an American classic.

Read more about Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn in this post on my 2011 Civil War blog

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2011/12/50-grapes-of-wrath.html 

Timothy H. O'Sullivan photographed the Virginia family outside their house where a Confederate General died. They happened to be in the way when the battle broke out.

Behind them broken furniture, trees and fences.

Hampton Roads

Each of the 8 prints in the reproduction collection is named for a battle from that year.

Shiloh

Corinth

Chantilly

Cedar Mountain

Yorktown

Memphis

Valverde

See a gallery of pictures from 1862 in the Library of Congress by clicking here:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/picamer/paCw1862.html

And keep up with the New York Times's Disunion blog that records the year 1862 in short essays:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/disunion/  

World War I Quilts

Quilt recording soliders who served, made in Harveyville, Kansas

Collection of the World War I Museum, Kansas City

Since we are all living through World War I in Downton Abbey here are a few of the many quilts associated with that particular war.

Another from Kansas City's World War I Museum

See more about the museum here:

http://www.theworldwar.org/s/110/new/index_community.aspx 

It''s similar to one made from uniforms and service flags by Herbert James Smith 

in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/quiltinggenius/quilts/2001_70_1.asp

Elizabeth Marthaler Stauf, Marysville, Kansas. Collection of the Kansas Museum of History

http://www.kshs.org/p/cool-things-patriotic-eagles-quilt/15950 

Fundraiser thought to have been made in 1915 to commemoriate Spanish American War. From WillyWonky's blog. See more here:

http://willywonkyquilts.blogspot.com/2011/11/fundraising-quilts.html

A very faded Red Cross quilt

The most common are signed fundraisers for the Red Cross

You can find these in local history museums all over the world

From Timaru, New Zealand

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzlscant/quilt.htm

To Odebolt, Iowa

http://www.odebolt.net/november_2006_news.html

The photos of people are from the Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

Want to see more? Just do a search for images World War I Quilt or World War 1 Quilt or WW1, etc.

 

Checkered Past: Free Pattern

From the new 1862: Battle Hymn collection.

The Battle of Hampton Roads in 1862 involved ironclad ships.

The print is called Hampton Roads, the colorway Merrimack Blue.

 The Merrimack was an ironclad ship.

Here's an EQ mockup of Checkered Past

Click on the PDF for a free pattern for this quilt for my Civil War reproduction collection 1862 Battle Hymn.

https://acrobat.com/app.html#d=5zuBtmwF6YnnxsgFNaNaZQ

It makes use of 2 alternating blocks

The checkerboards are pieced of 2-1/2" squares, so it's suitable for a Jellyrolls of strips.

The star points require bigger pieces but I bet you have some scraps around.

The medium-sized print Hampton Roads would make a good border.

This print reminded me of the rivers along the Virginia coast.

Hancy Reynolds

The PDF pattern is free---not copyright so you can print it or link to the PDF to share it on your own blogs, in guilds. I encourage shopowners to give it to customers.

Hancy Pitcairn Reynolds is the face of this reproduction collection. She was born in Massachusetts and lived in Illinois and Iowa. The war touched her as it did every American, . Her daughter's husband was a Union soldier who survived. Her granddaughter married a man whose father died as a prisoner in South Carolina. She's my friend Bobbi Finley's many-times greatgrandmother. We love the name Hancy and think her portrait captures the spirit of women who lived through the war.

Penguin Threads

Penguin Books has re-published some classic novels with cover illustrations in stitchery under the imprint Penguin Threads.

Artist Jillian Tamaki embroidered the illustrations.
http://jilliantamaki.com/embroidery/penguin-threads/

A nice gift for a girl ready to read the classics---or anyone who likes the book.

And see Tomaki's big embroidery project, her Monster Quilt.
Here's what she says:

I’ve taken up embroidery in a very enthusiastic yet clumsy way. It was pleasant to work in an unfamiliar medium with some real inherent limitations. And, oddly enough, it was kind of nice to produce something that must be seen in person to be fully appreciated

http://jilliantamaki.com/monster-quilt

Every Civil War Reproduction Line Needs a Neat Stripe

Narrow stripes, known as neats in the fabric industry,

were a fashion necessity after 1860 or so.

Like this madder-style stripe in my newest Civil War reproduction collection for Moda.

1862 Battle Hymn is in shops in the precuts including Fat Quarter Packs.

This particular stripe comes in five colorways

I named the prints after Civil War battles from 150 years ago.

The neat stripe is called Cedar Mountain.

This colorway with it's madder reds and dulled oranges is named Culpepper Peach.

The navy blue at left is Farragut Blue and the lighter, steel blue Merrimack Blue.

There are two neutral (what we might called taupe) colorways---on the left Stonewall Gray and in front Sharpsburg Tan.

The blues and the neutrals are rather subdued, evocative of the national mood in 1862 when everyone began to realize that the War would be a long and horrible conflict.

Roseanne Smith has some 2-1/2" Jellyroll strips and some 10" Layer Cakes. She's been busy with the neat stripe in the peach colorway.

She loves to miter

I could see a whole quilt out of scrappy nine-patches with mitered frames.

I'll post more about the prints, colors and themes in 1862 Battle Hymn. The yardage should be out any day.

Read more about stripes in the mid-19th-century at this post of mine a few years ago:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/01/stripes-in-civil-war-homefront.html