The Civil War Diary Quilts

I think I've blogged about The Civil War Diary Quilt book and the block exchange I am participating in with several friends. Years ago I made a Dear Jane quilt: my interpertation of a quilt made by Jane A. Stickle during the Civil War. I love quilts....pastel baby quilts, striking two color quilts, art quilts, worn-out-soft-as-can-be-I've-had-it-since-I-was-small quilts, scrap quilts, brightly colored quilts, applique quilts, pieced quilts and even art quilts. But my favorite quilts are ones that evoke days long past, earlier times, Civil War era quilts.
Yesterday I sent out the notice reminding my group that blocks are due on Thursday. We haven't gotten together since early September and it's all my fault. I've been gone way too much. But Thursday is the day.....so guess what a lot of us have been doing this past weekend? Right, we've been sewing our blocks! I was no different than the rest of the Greatful Threads, I sewed way into the night--well, early morning to finish them up. There are 9 of us and so that means we make one block 9 times. The blocks don't have to be of identical fabrics, the only rules are Civil War (read---19th Century reproductions) fabrics and a particular muslin sold at Scottie Dog Quilts. Each block uses muslin somewhere.

I was going for a Brown & Pink combination often referred to in the 19th Century as Peppermint & Sassafras. I also used several fabrics in some to mimic the "she did the best she could with what she had" look to older quilts. OK, I'll admit it, I ran out of fabrics. Just like my quilting sister from the Civil War era.
So here is a look at some of my blocks so far. I've got a ton of them. They are all 6" finished. I can't wait to put them together. I hand quilted my queen sized Dear Jane, but that isn't going to happen with this quilt. My poor hands won't let me. But I'll turn it over to my daughter Liz and her HQ16 and she'll work her magic.