Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Hospital Sketches: Sets, Borders & Buying Fabric


Another war; a different role
The 2019 B.O.M. here at Civil War quilts starts in two weeks.
The historical topic: Civil War hospitals

54" quilt with no borders

We will have nine floral applique blocks, one a month from January
through September, posted on the last Wednesday of each month.
There will be border suggestions too.

We designed the applique to fit in an 18" finished block"
Tighter in a 17-1/2" or 17" finished block if you want to use fat quarters for backgrounds.
More space around the applique in a 20" finished block.

Barbara pieced her backgrounds, each with four squares of light prints cut 9-1/2". The pieced four patch backgrounds finish to 18".

Our blocks will be nine of the most popular appliques used in album quilts in the years 1840-1865.
(Last year the B.O.M. here Antebellum Album was popular pieced album blocks.) There are many ways to set applique album blocks but the official set will be based on this idea of nine blocks with a directional flow.

Center of a quilt by Hannah Johnson Haines, 
Jay County, Indiana & Moline, Illinois.
Collection of the Rock Island County Historical Society, Illinois.
Recorded in the Illinois project and pictured in their book.

Xenia Cord gave a paper on this sampler design (Sampler #1) at last fall's AQSG meeting.
"Ohio, the Border State: A Regional Study of Vessel, Vine, and Floral Quilt Borders."

Another quilt with a similar set

Hannah Haines used only 3 different blocks. We'll do nine different blocks
 but they will each have a direction to them.


See posts on quilts similar to Hannah Johnson Haines's here:
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2018/02/nine-blocks-another-nine-block-pattern.html
https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2017/11/nine-blocks-same-nine-blocks.html

The Set & Border

Becky Brown and I may have the same initials but we have very different sewing styles (and skills.) I'm going for a simple border.

70" x 70"

I'm piecing my applique blocks side by side to give me a 54" finished patchwork field. I have a lot of leftover background scraps from cutting my background four-patches. (Next time I do this I am going to make the backgrounds finish 17" inches. It may seem like an odd number but you can get backgrounds from fat quarters and half yards with less waste.)

Anyway, I am taking that waste fabric and cutting it into rectangles 8-1/2" x 7-1/4" for a pieced border finishing to 8" wide.  See the plan. It says cut 32 rectangles. You need 4 squares 8-1/2" for the corners. We shall see how the plan works out and I will post pictures of my quilt as we sew along.


Becky, on the other hand, was quite taken with Hannah Johnson Haines's border, which Xenia
calls the Vessel, Vine & Floral Border. (She found 85 quilts with this border.)

We'll give you the pattern for that incredible border soon. 

Becky's colors and fabrics

Fabric Required for the Simple Border and 18" Finished Blocks:
Different backgrounds:
Buy 2/3 yard pieces. 5 of them. You get two 18-1/2" cut backgrounds from each. Use the leftovers for the pieced border.
Same background fabric:
Buy 2-3/4 yards of the background. 2 more yards if you want to do an 8" applique border. 

Becky did 20" finished blocks with more space around the applique.
For 20” Finished Blocks: 3-1/2 Yards.
Cut to 20-1/2”. This means you could get 2 blocks out of 2/3 yard fabric. (24” x 42”)

Barbara's fabrics

Fabric for the Applique:
I used scraps from my boxes of red, green, yellow and pink repro fabrics as I wanted an updated red and green applique look. I tried to use some of my smallest scraps in leaves and circles, etc. Very scrappy applique---particularly in the green calicoes.


Becky bought new hand-dyed fabric from Vicky Welsh's Colorways.

Read more about the fabrics here:
https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2018/12/2019-bom-here-hospital-sketches-applique.html

She alternated two background colors in her blocks; pink as above and an aqua green. Her border background is a red. (You will have to see her quilt---the colors are edgy but work great.)


If I were buying fabric for a traditional applique look in the blocks I'd want a minimum of:
  • 1 yard green
  • 1 yard red
  • 1/2 yard chrome orange (cheddar)
  • 1/2 yard double pink
Janet Perkins is using traditional prints but stretching the boundaries.


For a scrappier look divide those requirements up---maybe 4 fat quarters of green; 5 wouldn't hurt.

Denniele's aqua solid for background
and various pastels for florals

Now, Denniele Bohannon is doing a small, simple version with parts of each block (Sprouts). You may want to do this faster, contemporary take where the blocks finish to 8" or 9" but the applique pieces are the same size as in the larger blocks---just fewer of them. You'll have to wait and see.


I've started a Facebook Page: Click here to join
Ask to join and I'll let you in.
Post pictures, questions and ideas there.

12 comments:

Dorry said...

Thank you Barbara for your continuing efforts to educate us.I do greatly look forward to reading the stories you will have for this theme. The behind the scenes activities to patch (little pun here)things up when war does not go according to plan are not always as well known as the battles and men who led them. Applique and I enjoy each other but the results are very slow in coming. Denniele might have an option that would suit me also. I have a color scheme in mind already and will love to participate at some level.

WoolenSails said...

This sounds like a wonderful BOM, hopefully I will get to do more quilting this year.

Debbie

Denniele said...

Dorry...if I can do the applique you can! Barbara has made it easy and I am having fun with it. My applique blocks finish at 9". I am anxious to see all the versions that are being created and will be created.

Deb said...

This to me is absolutely thrilling it looks so awesome will the border have the same applique idea? I think it is all very very stunning!

Jeanne said...

Thank you for all the wonderful planning info! 'I'm thinking hard about this one' says The World's Worst Appliquer :)

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Love all the inspiring suggestions. I'm not much for Facebook, but will have to ask to join so I can see all the delicious renditions. Thanks a million for this one!

Marilyn Holley-Stupka said...

Thanks for this on-line project. I’m thinking of doing it all in blues. Does that seem feasible?

Unknown said...

Do I need to sign up for this lovely BOM, how do I get the monthly blocks?

Barbara Brackman said...

Donna. It will appear here every month on the last Wednesday Jan-Nov.

Sweetpt said...

I'm a confident beginner and want to join. I like gaining knowledge of the time, places and people's lives.

Suzie Conley said...

Oh my, I'm so behind. I've just discovered this BOM and so excited to start. I'm a nurse with a passion for Civil War reproduction fabrics. I've enjoyed looking at the pictures of the beautiful blocks posted by participants. You all have inspired me.

Debby said...

Hi Brenda, I am interested in the vessel,vine and floral border pattern. Did I miss that post? It is mentioned here but I couldn’t find it elsewhere with the search function.
I really enjoy your wonderful blog posts with all the histories of people and places that you research. As a nurse this Hospital sketches series has been a real learning experience. In school I did not enjoy history and now wish I had paid more attention. Thank you for all the work that you do and share with us quilters. And thank you for all the links to historical information and archives. A delightful rabbit hole to fall down!