Saturday, May 11, 2013

Civil War Repro

I am so proud to announce that I am now a member of the American Quilt Study Group!!! I have now decided that I want to be and will be a quilt historian. It will take time to learn, but I am so ready for this challenge!!!
Our mission statement is as follows:
 
"The American Quilt Study Group establishes, sustains, and promotes the highest standards for quilt-related studies. We stimulate, nurture, and affirm engagement in quilt studies and provide opportunities for its dissemination."

I am such a lucky girl.


So, I have been interested in Civil War history since I was small thanks to my father. After extensive research he found out that one of our ancestors was in the Confederate Army (more to come on that later).
 As my father delved further into this research it fascinated me and I wanted to know more. So, off and on for years I studied Civil War culture. Why would a free country separate and fight each other? We all know the basics, but it all came down to our rights. We are lucky now to not have to worry about our country fighting against each other, now when something bad happens we all seem to stick together. 
This is why I love my country so much!



So, a few months back I started to remake Dear Jane. If you do not know the quilt you can see it here. The Dear Jane quilt was made by Jane A Stickle "In War Time" in the 1860's. The quilt itself has 225 blocks, most of which are 4 1/2". It's been a challenge, but sew much fun!



I now have started the Dixie Diary Quilt by  Barbara Brackman. This is a BOM and started in January, but I started a little late. With each tutorial Barbara gives you the story with the block. It is so fascinating! It also brings us back to traditional quilting. Were, I believe, every quilter should start if we really want to understand quilting. This is something I am super serious about because we need to learn from our quilting fore-mothers.

The first block for the Dixie Diary BOM is "Her Flying Flag" and it is beautiful! The story is even more amazing, check it out here.

And, here is my version:


So now on with my journey. I do hope you follow along with me......