ALL CIVIL WAR TODAY

Fox and Geese, block # 14 in Brackman’s Civil War Quilt 2011 was easy to make.



I dug around in several forgotten places in the sewing room and found the cool red fabric.  It’s Judie Rothermel’s Spirit of the Season II for Marcus Brothers.  The dark blue moire'  fabric is from a  long ago collection, I believe called Lewis & Clark. 

If you haven’t already, visit the Civil War Quilt 2011 Flickr page to see the variety of fabric choices used in all the blocks made by many different quilters.  There is also a Flickr page for the Civil War Diary Quilt blocks here.

My most recent book purchase is Butternut & Blue, Threads of the Civil War by Barbara Brackman and Karie Menaugh [Sunflower Pattern Co-Operative, 2003].



It is probably out of print, but still available at Quilter’s Warehouse.  It may also be found on Amazon.com but at a higher price.  A version of Block #13, “Little Blue Baskets” is included in this book.  I used the placement guide included in the book to correctly place my basket handle.  I could have taken a quess but that usually is a bad idea. 

Also, I just completed another Civil War Diary block called “Texas Rangers.”  I used the yellow to represent the yellow rose of Texas, the light brown looked like tooled leather, and the black just because it tied the other two together.

           Texas Terries 1861 (Part of the Texas Rangers)

What a crew!  They look like they are ready for action.   Little did they know the horrors of war that awaited them.

I still haven’t quilted the “Keystone Medallion.”  I was sick several days this past week so I’m behind.  Or should I say more behind than usual?

There will be more to come, sew stay tuned.

"SOUTHERN NOTES" ABOUT "BIRDS IN THE AIR"

I’ve got two blocks to show you today.  Earlier in the week, I finished the 6” block called “Southern Notes” for the Civil War Diary quilt.


Many fewer pieces than the last CWD block I made, called "Alarming Conditions" because of the alarming condition it caused when one triangle was the wrong fabric!

Today, I made the No. 9 block, “Birds in the Air” from Brackman’s 2011 Civil War quilt using my red, cream and blue color scheme.  However, the red was too bright so I sprayed it with a product called “Distress It” that makes it appear darker in color (like tea staining) so it would look more antique.



I kept sewing the smaller half-square triangles in the wrong direction but finally got it laid out right.  Otherwise, it was an easy peasy block.

"Distress It" antiquing spray is an interesting product.  I first saw it mentioned in Quilter's Home Magazine a couple of years ago.  Can't remember where I ordered it -- several brain cells have died since then, but here is a before and after photograph.  Before is the top triangle.

After is the bottom triangle.  It is a subtle change but if I wanted it darker, I would spray it again after the first time dried.

Went out tonight for a Tex-Mex dinner with my family to celebrate my mother’s 79th birthday.  She doesn’t look or act 79 – she’s a very young 79 and we love her.  She loves flowers and birds, so this vintage card is in her honor.


                        Image from graphicsfairy.com

And sew it goes,

CIVIL WAR BLOCKS

This is my version of Barbara Brackman’s block of the week #3, Seven Sisters.



I machine appliqued the stars onto the background after fusing them onto the fabric.  Easy Peasy. 

Also made another Civil War Diary block called Rememberances.  Oops, I just noticed I cut off one of the big star points.  It will just have to stay that way.  It took a couple of hours to paper piece this one.



I currently have 26 blocks completed from Rosemary Youngs’ Civil War Diary Quilt book.  That leaves only 99 more blocks to go on that project.  That’s 99 6” finished blocks, mostly paper pieced and quite time consuming, but I love them.
Please don’t forget to leave a comment by Monday midnight on my Birthday Month Give Away #2 for a chance to win the Moda Club block cards and project sheets plus a printed copy of the 2011 About.com Quilting Calendar.  The drawing will be Tuesday.  I’m not even thinking that Ranger the Maine Coon cat will help with the drawing this time since it was totally uninterested in providing assistance on Drawing #1.  He's just being a cat.

Barbara Brackman’s New Civil War Quilt Blocks

 
Barbara Brackman, a talented quilt historian, fabric designer, and author, has a new blog for 2011 in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. During the year, she will post weekly block patterns and civil war history for a total of 52 blocks with instructions.  To see her Civil War blog, click here.
Although I do not need anything new to work on, I just couldn’t resist this project.  I made the first block, Catch Me If You Can.”  I’ve decided to go with a red, white and blue theme using my 19th century reproduction fabrics.

Anyone want to join in this block of the week project?  I think it will be fun, and I can surely make one little 8” block per month  week - maybe???  We'll see.  Anyway, I think it would be a great way to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of one of the most tragic eras in American history.
If you are interested in fabric and quilt history, you may also want to see Brackman’s other blog here.

You Tube Film of Civil War Diary Quilts

If you are working on a Civil War Diary Quilt based on Rosemary Young’s book by the same name, or if you just love quilts made using Civil War era reproduction fabrics, you need to watch the video featuring eight quilts made from a block exchange based on that book.

The quilts were invited for exhibition at the 2010 San Diego Quilt Show and can be viewed here.  Each setting is different and inspirational.

Hope you enjoy this film as much as I did.

Until later,

Hungry Soldiers CWD Block

Another Civil War Diary block, much easier than the last one.  "Hungry Solidiers"

Gotta love all the little arrows on this 6" block.

I planned on cutting out a bed-sized quilt from my French General fabrics but had a change of plans.  While digging through some of my kits, I came across a Fall Pumpkin wall hanging that struck my fancy since it is September and the Fall holidays are close at hand.  The pattern is from a Timbleberries book.  I pulled the fabrics together for this project several years ago.

The large print is the outer border and the other fabrics are for pumpkins and falling leaves.  A test block of the leaves is cut and ready to sew.  I'll keep you updated.

Until next time,

Another Civil War Diary Block

Just a quick note here.  This block is called “Dark Gloom”.  I would say that its name is appropriate.  It was a tough one.

There was an inset seam that gave me fits and some of the parts don’t line up properly.  This one may be a “do over” sometime in the future, but I plan to move on to something simpler for the next block.  Gotta give myself a break every once in a while.

New Civil War Diary Block

 

Now that the baby quilt is finished, I’m back on track with my Civil War Diary blocks.

This one, called “Alvin McClure,” was paper pieced. 

The kitchen cabinet doors are painted, installed  and have new brushed stainless steel knobs.  Woo Hoo!!!

 

It’s so nice to be able to put up my pots, pans and casserole dishes in these new large drawers. 

 

These cabinets are above the brushed stainless vent hood.  So nice and clean!

Now that things in my house are pretty much back in order, I plan to cut out a quilt using my French General fabrics.  You can see the fabrics elsewhere in my blog by clicking on the underlined words.

Until next time,

“Beginning of War” CWD Block Finished

 

I really like the way this block turned out.  The color choices worked well but then using Jo Morton fabric for 2/3 of the block made it likely that I would love it.

 

Quiltmania Magazine No. 78 arrived in my mailbox last week which always fills me with joy.  It’s one of my favorite quilting magazines.  Unfortunately, my subscription is up and the renewal rate for 6 issues jumped to about $76.00 per year American money.  Oh my gosh!  I can’t justify spending that much money on 6 magazines.  Even if it is my favorite.

It’s a French magazine that is also published in English and shipped over to the USA.  Between it being a high quality publication and extensive shipping costs, the price has become unreasonable (for me). 

I guess I’ll live without it.  Oh well . . . . .

I Got to Sew!

My sewing room is as organized as I can get it until a shelf I ordered comes in so I took the opportunity to sew a Civil War Diary Quilt block.

                                                    DRAFT THREAT

This paper pieced block was fairly easy to do, as easy as paper piecing can be.  It still took about an hour.  It was so exciting to put the petal to the metal and sew after a long (long for me) break.

We are still waiting on the correct linoleum to come in.  What was sent to Home Depot before was so wrong --- the order was placed with one incorrect digit.  They promised to put a “super rush” on it since we had to wait over 2 weeks for the wrong one!  We’ll see.

In the meantime, we are getting bids to redo our kitchen cabinet doors and a bathroom cabinet.  That will be another different mess when the time comes for the work to begin.

By the way, I have listed some quilt books for sale at the Quilters Flea Market Yahoo Group page so head on over there and take a look.  You might find something you can’t live without.  Out of my home into yours.

What a Dump!

My Sweetie and I have been working all day packing and moving stuff out of my sewing room in preparation for new flooring this week.    I even threw away some junk and gather up other stuff to give away to Goodwill but you can’t tell I made a dent in my “sewing stuff.”

This is what we stored in our office:

I think I’ll have to weed out some more stuff when I start putting things back because there are a few more boxes of it stored in my den as well.  Oh my ……………..

My little Baby Blue Kenmore is accessible to sew on more Civil War Diary blocks in case I need some distraction from the other mess going on in my disheveled house.    I finished an easy one a couple of nights ago.

                                                Yankee Papers

It doesn’t get much easier than that.

 

Battlefield at Home and in Springfield

My newest CWD block.

                                                Battle of Springfield

I worked on it on my kitchen table yesterday so I could stay out of the way of the contractors.   My cat is freaked out by the noise and people he doesn’t know.  I’m freaked out by the noise and the awful smells from the adhesives used in the shower installation. 

This too shall pass.

Remodeling Blues

Remodeling a bathroom is quite a mess, especially in an older house built in the early 1960s.  Nothing lines up with the new fixtures, plumbing stuff is worn out and has to be replaced, and it’s just plain old going to take longer than anticipated (so what else is new).

The ceramic tile and sink are gone (they were an icky pink beige color) along with the flooring.

  

Also the corner shower  was removed with a new pan installed.

Unfortunately, the traffic in and out of my house to the bathroom passes right through my sewing room so I am limited in what I can do in there.  Guess I better lay out my Hexagon Stars blocks and start sewing them together.

After the workmen left, I did manage to make two more very easy Civil War Diary blocks:

                                            Meeting General Lee

                                   Games, Music and Knitting

I may have to set up my Baby Blue Kenmore (which is lightweight my workshop machine) to work on more blocks at the dining room table if the urges to sew gets too strong.

Happy Birthday America

 

 

The July 4th parade and family wiener roast were yesterday, but tonight we celebrate with brisket, red beans, potato salad and all the fixins’ at my Mom’s house before the fireworks begin.  My beans have been cooking in the Crockpot all afternoon and the wonderful smell is really making me sooooo hungry.

My latest Civil War Diary block took me over two hours to complete.  Paper piecing is a b _ _ _ h on some of these blocks.  This one had about 35 pieces in one 6” block.

                                      Sorrow Block, CWD Quilt

The title lives up to it’s name – Sorrow-  but when finished, it became my favorite so far.  I would have suffered worse sorrow if I tried to piece this one any other way.

Hope you all had a happy 4th of July.

Ranger on Crib Toile and Block Report

Ranger’s favorite place to sleep moves in cycles.  Sometimes it’s on our bed, sometimes atop a wicker box on our dining room bar, and other times on top of whatever quilt he can find.  He is currently in his sleeping on the back of the love seat on top of the Crib Toile quilt mode.

Leave me alone Mom.  I’m snoozing.

 

Oh—I see something on that pillow I’ve never seen before.  Gotta swat it!

Here he found a sack of newspapers headed for the recycle bin and immediately plopped down in it.

What can I say?  He’s versatile.

Color inspiration from flowers are all around.  For instance, this group of yellow and hot pink flowers surrounding a sandstone rock really caught my eye.

Beautiful yellow and pink flowers and rock at Olive Garden

Bright colored quilts don’t come up in my sewing area (unless it’s a baby gift), but I love this color combination of the hot pink and bright yellow.  A copy of this photo will definitely end up in my inspirations notebook.

I haven’t sewn much this past week or so.  The summer doldrums are upon me, but these blocks were done:

                                Hand Pieced Hexagon Stars

                                 Civil War Diary – Mercantile Goods

While reviewing the photos in my CWD digital file, I noticed that lots of the blocks have blue fabric in them.  I want a larger variety of color so my next fabric pulling session will include other colors.  

You can imagine with two scrappy quilts going at one time, I have fabric strewn everywhere in my sewing room.  I need to stop and put things up more often than I do but I’m always so anxious to start sewing that I leave the leftovers lying on either my cutting board or the end of my ironing board.  When I have to move stuff in order to do anything but sew, like ironing anything larger than a fat quarter or cutting out larger blocks, it’s time to put it away.

This reminds me of a quote by Walt Disney. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”  Guess I’ll shut up and start doing Mr. Disney.

Block Status and How I Keep Up With Civil War Diary Blocks

 

Very little progress on my quilt blocks the last few days.  I’ve made four new hexagon star blocks.

Furthermore, I’ve selected fabric for my next two Civil War Diary  blocks and placed them in the plastic sleeves with the patterns in my CWD notebook.

 

I also store my completed blocks with the patterns in the notebook.

 

This is the method of keeping up with the blocks I learned when taking the Dear Jane classes a few years ago.  I’ve started putting the date the block is completed on the pattern page just so I can keep up with my long journey. 

Dear Jane is not complete, but I have enough blocks to make a decent wall hanging which is my plan one day.