Saturday, October 27, 2012

Civil War Sampler in December

 
At Quilt Market this week we are showing off the new Civil War Sampler book based on this blog.
It's scheduled to arrive in shops mid-December. The cover is based on Becky Brown's quilt.
 
 
There are fifty patterns inside with stories and two versions of each block, here Becky's and Valerie's. The blocks are in different order from the blog and I switched out ten blocks so there are ten new stories and blocks...

Like Courthouse Square by Roseanne Smith
You can see more about the book at the publisher's webpage.
 
 
Click on the Google Preview button there and it will show you a preview.

Or you can see a preview at Google Books.



 
You may notice that the book is scheduled for delivery on December 10th. This may be a little late for holiday giving so I've made a certificate here that you could print out and put in an envelope, promising delivery---just in case.
 
 
Click on the photo and print or click on the PDF:
You could also copy the image and email a gift notice.

If you have a block in the book---we wrote for permissions so you may remember who you are---you'll get a free copy, but when I get that box of books and when they will arrive at your doors is an unknown.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

A Civil War Quilt?

A few months ago I saw this quilt for sale in an online auction.
It didn't last very long but I copied the photos.
 

On the back you can see that each of the blocks was quilted and bound before being set together, what we today call potholder quilts. This technique was done during the Civil War by sewing groups making quilts for soldiers---but you also see it in other eras.

Could it be a Civil War quilt
made between 1861 and 1865?
A look at the overall quilt tells me no for a couple of reasons
1) That crazy quilt block in the lower corner below---not done till the 1880s.
2) That large scale black or navy blue print looks wrong for era too.


But this block makes me think there is some Civil War connection.
Here we have four Union shields

Very much like a quilt with repeat blocks of four Confederate shields. It's an unusual pattern.
Perhaps the blocks were begun during the War and finished later. One could just keep adding finished blocks....

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Homefront & Battlefield Catalog Available



At the AQSG seminar in the book sales area I found a copy of the catalog from the American Textile History Museum's show Homefront and Battlefield by Madelyn Shaw and Lynne Zacek Bassett. If you want the latest authoritative book on historical Civil War quilts you must have this one.

Union & Constitution Forever
Elizabeth Moffit Lyle, circa 1861
Smoky Hill Museum
Remember the show is only up until November 25, 2012 in Lowell, Massachusetts. The catalog features many iconic Civil War quilts---from Kansas to Maine.
 
Union & Liberty
Octavia Lewis, 1864
Maine State Museum
 
Many from museums...
like this Gunboat Quilt by Martha Jane Hatter in the collection
of the First White House of the Confederacy
 

And several from private collections.

Sanitary Commission Quilt
Caroline Bowen Fairbanks, 1862-3
Vermont Historical Society
See detail below.

The theme is Quilts and Context in the Civil War so there are many artifacts and much information. The book has 231 pages, paperback. $39.95.
 Here's what I know about buying the catalog. Call the ATHM to order it by phone:
978-441-0400 x 243 or 247
Their museum shop webpage:
 

You will have many chances to see the ATHM show as it will travel around the country in the next three years.
Future destinations:
New-York Historical Society, New York, NY, April 4 – August 31, 2014;
Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT, September 20, 2014 – January 1, 2015
Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE, February 1, - June 30, 2015.