Friday, January 8, 2010

Chords of Memory and Civil War Samplers

Elin Thomas sent a snapshot of her Chords of Memory Quilt, made from a pattern in my online club Underground Railroad Quilt Club for C&T Publishing.

Jean Stanclift's version of my Chords of Memory sampler

It's time to start thinking about your Civil War memory quilt to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the War in 1861. I'm going to post a block every week or so in the left column here from the online club and the Chords of Memory sampler.

You can subscribe and download patterns and history about the Underground Railroad by clicking here:


See Jun's Photo Gallery for her versions of the blocks.
http://bear-necessities.net/photo_album/thumbnails.php?album=7 

There are many samplers recalling the Civil War out there, most of them featuring traditional blocks. Among the most popular are Rosemary Young's books.





Women's Voices, a Civil War Quilt designed by Fabric Expressions

 
Judi Rothermel from Marcus fabrics has a new sampler The Civil War Tribute Quilt

I've been finding online pictures of the quilt Karla Menaugh and I did for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative called War and Pieces


The one on the left is from Betty at Shady Wood Quilts
On the right: Cynthia from Texas has posted hers


Nadine Kennedy was interviewed by the Quilt Alliance's Save Our Stories project
Click here to read the interview:
The pattern is out of print, unfortunately.
I've done a few books on blocks to recall events in the Civil War. Both of these feature samplers and are still in print:

 

Carla Gay posted these blocks from Facts & Fabrications on the web
You can see more versions of the blocks by clicking here:
There are lots of samplers to choose from. Just don't make the mistake of starting a quilt that purports to tell the story of symbolism in the Underground Railroad. Historians agree that these supposed Quilt Code stories are misdirected history. If you make one you'll regret it as you get more familiar with quilts and Civil War history.
There is absolutely no way this Sailboat block, invented in the 1930s, could have anything to do with signals on the Underground Railroad. Don't fall for it. There were no quilt blocks used as symbols on the Underground Railroad.

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