Liberty's Birds #8: New Orchards

 

Liberty's Birds #8: New Orchards by Denniele Bohannon

Sara Robinson returned to the ruined town of Lawrence in June, 1856 after traveling in the east hoping to convince politicians and some of her influential relatives to free her husband still jailed by the pro-slavery Kansans for treason.

She heard of the "Sack of Lawrence" in Chicago.

New Orchards by Becky Collis

Crossing the river on the rope ferry...

New Orchards by Elsie Ridgley

A girdled tree

The Missourians' vindictiveness is illustrated by her account of their taking the time to kill the new fruit orchards citizens had planted by girdling the small trees---removing all the bark in a circle around the trunk which prevents nutrients from traveling, a cut that eventually kills the tree.

The Block

                

A bird and a floral----

Applique Classic

Sandra Starley has a crib quilt in her collection featuring 

a similar pattern.

We might call that two-toned bird a robin.

We still plant fruit trees like peaches and apricots in Lawrence, but mostly the ornamental type. It's a rare spring that doesn't blast the blooms with a late freeze destroying our hopes of homegrown fruit.

Print the patterns out on 8-1/2 x 11" sheets.

Note the inch-square guide.

New Orchards by Susannah Pangelinan

in her sashing with four-patch cornerstones.

Elsie needed 13 blocks for her on-point set so she made 

4 blocks of a simple rose for the corners.

Last BOM next month #9.

Threads of Memory: Free Patterns For An Underground Railroad Quilt

 

Becky Brown

Threads of Memory Block # 8 

Jacksonville Star

We did a Block-of-the-Month series here in 2014 to offer an accurate pieced quilt design for stitchers interested in making a quilt to remember the Underground Railroad and American slavery.

Jean Stanclift

Threads of Memory Block #3

New Garden Star

Becky and Jean made two very different models.

And readers followed their own muses

Cathy at the St. Augustine Quilters

And Pat's

Here are free patterns as published 10 years ago or so.

Print on 8-1/2" x 11" sheets.

Scroll down for links to the stories for each.

 Do note the inch-square guide in the patterns with templates and if 

it's not accurate adjust your printer interface so

your templates print the correct size.

1 Portsmouth Star for Ona Judge Staines

Portsmouth Star by Rosemary

2 Mercer County Star for Susan Lowe Wattles

3 New Garden Star for Catherine White Coffin

Kathleen at Temecula Quilts

4 Canada Star for Lucie Blackburn

Threads of Memory by Nanette Chopin Cook

5 Madison Star for Delia Webster

Madison Star from Terry

6 Salem Star for Charlotte Forten Grimke

7 Oberlin Star for the Oberlin Rescuers

8 Jacksonville Star for Emily Logan

Jacksonville Star by Richy

9 Lancaster Star for Deborah Simmons Coates

Lancaster Star by Betty

10 Britain's Star for Charlotte Henson

Britain's Star by Flo

11 St. Charles Star for Louisa Alexander

St.Charles Star by Jo

12 Rochester Star for Amy Post & Harriet Jacobs

See the true stories of real courageous women at  these 2014 posts:

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/01/threads-of-memory-1-portsmouth-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/02/threads-of-memory-2-mercer-county-star.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/03/threads-of-memory-3-new-garden-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/04/threads-of-memory-4-canada-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/05/threads-of-memory-5-madison-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/06/threads-of-memory-6-salem-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/07/threads-of-memory-7-oberlin-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/08/threads-of-memory-8-jacksonville-star.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/09/threads-of-memory-9-lancaster-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/10/threads-of-memory-10-britains-star-for.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/11/threads-of-memory-11-st-charles-star.html

http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2014/12/threads-of-memory-12-rochester-star-for.html

Terry designed a framed star for her setting design.

Monthly blocks in the center of each.

"Underground Railroad" Quilts

 

 Underground Railroad quilts displayed by 12- year-olds

who learned all about this era of American History in school.

Too bad "the history" is all myth with no basis in fact

based on a spurious book Hidden in Plain View.

Designs featured in the "Quilt Code" like the Drunkard's Path and the 

Sailboat did not yet exist during the years of slavery.

Do read more about coded UGRR quilts and their inventor at this post:

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2025/09/when-pigs-fly-award.html

My education is not in textile history but in psychology, teaching in the Behavioral Psychology departments at two Universities where we followed a basic behavioral principle: "Offer an appropriate behavior as an alternative to a problem behavior." In this case the problem is promoting false history through quilts.

I realize ranting against these quilts has little effect on people who want to stitch Black history but for several years I have offered an alternative path: Sampler quilts that tell an accurate story of slavery and liberation.

Stories focused on real women and reliable documents

I've designed three samplers. The most recent is Freedom's Friends, an applique BOM in 2022.

Freedom's Friends by Nat Palaskas

The history comes from William Still's book about fugitives on their way from slavery to freedom.

William dedicated the book to "The Friends of Freedom,"

the "Heroic Fugitives" and their descendants.

See a post with links to the free patterns here:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2022/05/freedoms-friends-pattern-post-links-in.html

Freedom's Friends by Deanna Street

Wreath of Hearts by Rebecca Schnekenberger

Link to our Facebook group: Freedom'sFriendsQuiltBOM. It's public so you can join or not.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/325851666128986

Freedom's Friends by Elsie Ridgley

I also published a book with a "History of  Quilts & Slavery" for C&T Publishing.

"8 Projects - 20 Blocks - First-Person Accounts"

Amazon preview here:

https://www.amazon.com/Facts-Fabrications-Unraveling-History-Quilts-Slavery/dp/1571203648?asin=1571203648&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1

Facts & Fabrications is out of print but C&T and Amazon will print you a copy of the book on demand. See this link:

https://ctpub.com/products/facts-fabrications-unraveling-the-history-of-quilts-slavery-print-on-demand-edition?srsltid=AfmBOooRtifJkfQtfSInbYzBV-iV-uHuwez2KAKysNSoOYoTlD0jkRKe

I designed a third alternative quilt, Threads of Memory, a pieced BOM with new star designs for this CivilWarQuilts blog in 2014.

Threads of Memory by Jean Stanclift

Jean and Becky made models of the star sampler in very different style.

Threads of Memory by Becky Brown

I designed new star patterns to recall women's stories of escape and assistance, each star named 

 named for an important place where the UGRR assisted slaves on the road to freedom.

Madison Star by Jelibet

I removed the links to free patterns several years ago when I began selling the pattern in my Etsy shop. But in a small gesture to counter the current regime's war on accurate history I will repost the 12 patterns for Threads of Memory next week.

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2020/07/threads-of-memory-underground-railroad.html

Threads of Memory by Jo Tokla