What If You Only Did 12 Blocks

Idea # 1 -

Put something really big in the center.

Keeping up is hard work. I am very impressed that so many of you got through the whole year. But in reading blogs, Flickr comments, etc. I realize many did not. (And some of you have misplaced a few blocks---I'm not naming names.)

So here are some suggestions for samplers done with fewer blocks ---ideas taken from antique quilts.

2) Use really big sashing

3) And/or a Really Big Border

From Franklin & Marshall College's collection

4) Mix in a lot of something else

A whole lot of something else

There are four patches, bow ties and other blocks in this quilt.
It's a sampler of sorts.

Organization!

Sheila at her blog PetitePieceofthePrairie made 4" versions of the weekly blocks.
She is great at using digital imaging to keep track of her work.

http://petitepieceoftheprairie.blogspot.com/

As someone whose studio looks like this right now

 I can only say congratulations!

(That's actually not my dog and not my studio---but it could be---except that Dot stays out of the studio. Things keep falling. Too scary.)

Rosemary's New Book

If you haven't enough Civil War blocks to keep you busy for a while you'd better buy Rosemary Young's new book The Civil War Anniversary Quilts. She says she should have copies to ship on Tuesday, May 1st.

See how to order from her here:

http://rosemaryyoungs.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/pre-ordering-the-civil-war-anniversary-quilt-book/

She was kind enough to do a quilt for MY book of the blocks from this blog while she was in the midst of making the quilts for hers.

And on her web page you will see she is working on other blocks, other books and other wars.

Side By Side Sampler

Sandy F from Oregon sent a picture of her finished sampler.

"I have to say I loved doing the civil war block each Saturday.  After some thought I decided to go with a very simple setting, something a lady in those times might do.  I had read an article about the Sanitation Com. requesting quilts that would fit cots.  They wanted them 48" x 96".  So this is the size I made mine."

Sandy's inspiration: samplers of blocks without any sashing made by Ladies Aid Societies. This one is from the collection of the New England Quilt Museum. What looks like sashing is actually the binding of individually bound and quilted blocks whipped together.

 "I added three additional blocks to get the right amount. "
So her sampler is 11 blocks long by 5 wide = 55 blocks.

"I found this patch thru an online store and fit right in with my plan."

She also added a block from a quilt Nancy Hornback made for my book Civil War Women. We called it Jeff Davis's Daughter. See a blog post about that design here:

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2011/05/civil-war-memory-quilts.html

See Debbie's block here:
http://woolnsails.blogspot.com/2012/04/davis-daughter-block-two.html

The side-by-side sampler is a set you see from the mid-19th-century on. It became quite popular towards the end of the century when published quilt patterns were widely available, giving quilters ready access to new designs. The quilt above with its greens fading to a pale olive looks to be about 1890-1910

Here's another side-by-side sampler with blocks of different sizes from the same time period. The side-by-side set, especially when the blocks are sized differently, creates an energetic, informal look.

Thanks for the pictures, Sandy. It's a great look!

Strip Sets

Susi-ra

6 strips x 7 blocks = 42 blocks

Größenänderungcivil war quilt top

Strip sets were an option in the mid-19th century and here are two ways to do it. Susi-ra stacked her blocks up making 8" strips and alternated with narrower strips.

Mamifleur (who lives in France---

can you tell from the tile roof?)

She turned the blocks on point and used 60 blocks. 10 to a strip x 6 = 60.
You need triangles to fill out the strip.

For an 8" finished block you will want to cut squares 12-5/8" and cut each into four triangles as shown so you have a straight grain against the strips.

Keep those pictures coming.

Some Links

Celia's top from Janet's class

I've found some pictures of Civil War sampler quilts on blogs and webpages so I thought I'd share some links.

Janet in South Yorkshire, U.K. has been teaching a class using the blocks. Here are two posts:
http://aquiltersjournal.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-civil-war-quilts.html
http://aquiltersjournal.blogspot.com/2012/02/civil-war-quilt-progress.html

Please Do use these blocks to teach! Just give me and this blog a credit.

Cherie of Quilted Jonquil shows her Design Wall every Monday.
http://quiltedjonquil.com/category/barbara-brackman-civil-war-bow/

Connie of Connie's Crafts has her top finished.http://conniescrafts.blogspot.com/2012/01/brackman-civil-war-bow-top-done.html

And there's a new Flickr Group called Circle of Friends Take 2 because everyone got lonely once they got their tops done.
Check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/circle_of_friends__take_two/pool/

Period Quilting

Detail of Circle of Friends

Machine Quilted by Deb Jacobs

Period guidelines for quilting designs aren't easy because we quilt and use fabric so differently than the quilters of 150 years ago. Deb's machine quilting on the long arm machine as in my gift quilt above shows some of today's virtuoso quilting. Feathers are a traditional design but the way she arranged them across the surface of a scrappy sampler quilt is very up-to-date.

This sampler quilt from the mid 19th century would probably have been considered scrappy. The biggest difference is the use of white which gave the quilter a place to show off.

Although the more typical example has quilting that is not very dramatic. This  detail from a quilt dated 1863 shows the quilting design...

...an outline around every patch---something we called outline quilting or self-quilting when we were documenting quilts in the quilt projects 25 years ago. The quilting is NOT "in the ditch" but about 1/4" away from every seam line. There is additional quilting in the white squares in the corners---an X.
See more about this quilt which belongs to the Historical Society of Nyack NY here:
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2011/08/civil-war-survivor.html

This outline quilting is not a clue to date. It's common over the centuries in all different eras. It's a style that works better for hand quilting than for long-arm quilting.

Here's a detail of a Civil War-era quilt from Tennessee that shows outline quilting in the patchwork and then a grid in the white areas. See more of this quilt by Mary High Prince at the Quilt Index here:

http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=4C-83-32E

Another grid in the blue field on one of those Peterson's Magazine flag quilts.

But here the grid is a triple line. The idea of double and triple line quilting, whether grids or diagonal lines, is very 19th century. The stars are outline quilted and notice the pretty little leaf and vine in the stripe. Also notice there is no filler quilting behind that leaf and vine.

It's more typical for mid-19th-century quilters to use a lot of filler quilting behind the fancy motifs so they really popped out. Above the parallel diagonal lines are probably less than 1/4" apart, which make the leaves look like they are stuffed although they have no extra stuffing.

Close quilting is the rule---the stitches per inch are not so important as the lines per inch. This grid is probably 1/2" apart or less.

Here's a quilt with a hodge-podge of designs but fairly consistent triple diagonal lines in the border background. This quilter did echo quilting inside the applique, repeating the red diamond shape three times to give a close-quilted look.

Triple diagonal line quilting is very typical, particuarly in borders.

All this doesn't translate to machine quilting very well, so I always tell my machine quilter to do what she likes to do. It seems like we should not be trying to imitate but rather interpret the past.