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july 2, 2008
cute civil war
These teeny tiny 6" quilt blocks of my civil war sampler quilt are so darned cute, I'm going to have to start calling my quilt "cute civil war" instead of "pretty civil war". They are pretty though.
These are all from Barbara Brackman's book Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery The history is fascinating and the piecing of the blocks is challenging, especially at this size. But the resulting blocks, despite what they may represent and despite the difficulty of the construction, are simply cute. posted by alison at 9:04 am | in
civil war sampler
Comments
I find the history of quilt blocks fascinating and this is no exception. Great work on such a small scale. ~ksp Posted by: Kelli at July 2, 2008 9:50 AMDefinitely cute! Love it! I especially love the pink and red block. You'd think those colors wouldn't look good together, but time and time again they are simply smashing. Posted by: kristin at July 2, 2008 10:43 AMVery nice! Again, I'm so happy to be sharing the love of another fiber addiction. Posted by: Marcia at July 2, 2008 11:52 AMWow, they may be small but they are full of interest! I really like your fabric choices :-) Posted by: Lauren at July 2, 2008 12:26 PMVery nice blocks. I love working with reproduction fabrics and I recognize a couple of those prints as ones I've used before. Posted by: Plain Jane at July 2, 2008 1:13 PMBeautiful! Posted by: Jane at July 2, 2008 2:39 PMI love the North Star block! Everything is turning out great. Can't wait to see the progress and finished product. Posted by: Chancy at July 2, 2008 3:04 PMThe blocks are gorgeous! Posted by: silverarrowknits at July 2, 2008 11:29 PMThe blocks are attractive and very well crafted. I commend your concern about calling ANYTHING related to war "cute" OR "pretty." Maybe something more along the lines of "Silk purse from sow's ear of a Civil War"... Posted by: KnittingPainterWoman at July 3, 2008 12:22 AMI LOVE the fabrics. I recently joined the BOM from Fat Quarters. I just finished the first 12" block. It had approximately 50 pieces. That was bad enough so I can just imagine doing blocks at 1/2 that size. They are beautiful though and definitely worth the effort. Posted by: Elaine at July 3, 2008 7:02 AMI love the tiny squares. How many squares are in the project? Posted by: Seanna Lea at July 3, 2008 7:19 AMI am going to have to get that book it sounds facinating! And your quilt squares are wonderful! Posted by: Milly at July 3, 2008 9:14 PMLove those blocks! You just can't go wrong with anything from Barbara Brackman. Posted by: Anita at July 5, 2008 3:49 PM |
. Brackman, a quilt historian who published THE encyclopedic collection of quilt blocks, has done an excellent job presenting the shameful and the heroic aspects of the period using established history and first-person accounts. She has chosen quilt blocks that reflect the facts about slavery and the fight against it either in style or name or both. These four blocks, for example, are: 1. Catch Me if You Can, "a block to recall escape"; 2. Cotton Boll, "a block to recall the slave economy"; 3. Lost Ship, "a block to recall the ocean voyage"; and 4. Aunt Dinah, "a block to recall Americanization." The North Star block above is to recall Abolition fairs in places like Boston, where Northern women would sell their needlework to raise money for Anti-Slavery efforts.