Threads of Memory: Civil War Block of the Month Begins January 25

On my Civil War Quilts blog we are going to do another free online Block of the Month.

Threads of Memory

Block of the Month

by Becky Brown

I bet there will be another border.

The theme for 2014 Threads of Memory refers to the Underground Railroad. Each month you'll get a block named for an important place in the story of the network that assisted slaves on the road to freedom. 

We'll explore true stories of people who lived in slavery, escaped on the "Liberty Line" or helped the fugitives.

We'll focus on a courageous person or two with each block and fit their stories into a larger picture of how the Undergrornd Railroad operated. Don't look for myths or secret codes---we'll have true stories taken from first person accounts.

The twelve blocks will finish to 12" and each is an original pieced design for a star block. 

You don't have to sign up. I'll post block instructions and stories on the last Saturday of each month beginning on January 25, 2014.

But you might want to sign up for email notifications on that blog page so the weekly post comes right to your inbox.

For more information about fabrics and color check this page:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2013/11/2014-civil-war-block-of-month-threads.html

Shops may want to kit up the monthly block and provide a link to the blog post each month. Guilds could use it as a block of the month too. The patterns are not copyright. Do give the blog credit, please if you use them.

I hope to encourage quilters to use reproduction fabric (paticularly mine!) to make the blocks. There are lots of other great prints out there to provide inspiration.

Dustin Cecil is going to do a set of model blocks in last summer's Civil War Jubilee collection from Moda.

Becky Brown is making a set of blocks using Ladies' Album, my next Civil-War-era reproduction line, scheduled to be delivered in February.

Becky's also made a set from her scrapbag of pinks and browns, which is also pictured at the top of this page. She's setting these twelve blocks with a flying geese sash of triangles.

We'll have several colorways, several sets and ideas from fussy cutting to using a stripe. Plus LOTS of accurate history about the Underground Railroad and the events leading up to the American Civil War.

If you haven't time to join in by sewing, do check out our Flickr page to see how the project is progressing. I am predicting fabulous things.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011/