"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."
-Abraham Lincoln
"On April 9th 1865 The Civil War ended" …
I have been watching Ken Burn's classic documentary The Civil War, so it's been at the center of my thoughts for a week now. PBS is re-running the series in its entirety, so if you haven't seen it you can catch it HERE. I couldn't wait, so I downloaded it on Netflix and have been watching it on my iPad (What a surreal experience! Can you imagine what our ancestors would have thought about an iPad?).
It is a fascinating program. Very sad, but thought provoking. When they spoke about the role of women in the war it brought something to mind. Years ago I bought a wonderful book called "Civil War Women" by Barbara Brackman.
Mrs. Brackman tells the story of several women and the quilts they might have made during The Civil War. There are patterns and instructions for these beautiful quilts, as well as letters and stories of these "Civil War Women". If you are a quilter or interested in the lives of the women of the era, you must have this book.
Click HERE to visit Barbara Brackman's website, where you can learn more about antique quilts and reproduction fabrics, plus she even has some free patterns. Thank you Barbara for sharing these wonderful stories and keeping their memory, plus their BEAUTIFUL artwork, alive.
*quilt from "Quilts from the Civil War"
I wanted to share one more thing.
One of the oldest books in our collection at the studio is a copy of Godey's Lady's Book from 1851. For those not familiar, Godey's was the Ladies Home Journal, Readers Digest and Where Women Create of its time. It contained poetry, short stories, lovely artwork and even projects for the creative women of the day.
It is one of my favorite books in our library … It even has a pressed flower nestled between its worn pages! Who put the flower there and why is something that I always ponder. Was it in memory of a love long lost? A special keepsake? A mystery for the ages in the pages of our lovely book. I would love to show it off to all of our readers, but scanning each page would be a large project, and travel to our studio might not work for everyone, plus I don't think we could fit everyone in! I was happy to find this compromise:
Thanks to Project Gutenberg you can click HERE to read this BEAUTIFUL copy of Godey's lady's book from January, 1851. Ours contains the whole year, but you can get a good idea of what these books were like. So what do you think?
Are you inspired by the stories and images of the past?
And now, the winner of the Fabrique from Making Memories is ….
Congratulations!
~Thanks to Making Memories for this great prize~
Congrats, implumcute! Enjoy your wonderful prize!
Thanks, WWC, for all that you share!
oh I too am so fascinated with the Civil War Era and the history of it all. Anything, movie or book I sit for hours watching and learning.
My collection of 1800s books is growing day by day but this one is amazing in detail. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Amy
I am going to a Civil War luncheon hosted by a local historical society. We are having to decorate our table and I’m going to create a reproduction Civil War era quilt for a table topper.
This is totally off topic, but I cannot find the information anywhere and I can’t find a “Contact Us” button anywhere. You do not list the cost of the upcoming Creative Connection gathering. Some of us need to budget for this in order to attend.
Thanks.
I’m quite surprised at how many illustrations were included in that old book – the artwork is wonderful to see!
Since I began my apron journey in 1999, I’ve listened to hundreds of apron memories. One such has never been rivaled for its history and a manner of grieving: A storyteller from the deep South told of a relative who lost sons in the Civil War and for each, stitched their initials, birth and death dates onto the bottom corner of her apron. Throughout the rest of her life, she wore that apron, often tucking the corner into her waistband or holding it in her hand…as a way of connecting to her children.
Ive watched snipits of this and find it so interesting, so well done! I love the quilts – the colors are wonderful as were the patterns. I don’t know there is a lot to be said about the quilts back then, something so personal. I can’t machine sew at all and some day would love to do a quilting bee. I don’t have time at moment to look at that book, but cant wait to see it! Thanks for sharing something so unique!
Hi Suzanne. We are working hard to get the site up, but in the meantime, email and we can give you an idea. Oh, and if you can, please share your table topper on our Facebook page. We’d love to see it! Have a great night~Paige
Thank you so much for sharing your comments! If you have any projects you’d like to share, please post them on our Facebook page. I really would love to see them. Have a great night! Paige
I recently finished reading “The Union Quilters” by Jennifer Chiaverini. It is the latest in the Elm Creek Quilters series. This book is all about how the women made quilts for the men going off to war as a way to support the war efforts. It was so interesting and I learned so much. I often feel when I’m creating a connection to the women who have gone before me even though most of my creating is for fun, while their’s was mostly done out of necessity.