An exhibit worth seeing

If you live anywhere near Chicago, I highly recommend the free exhibit at the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery in the Thompson Center downtown. The exhibit is called "Civil War Era Quilts."

I was able to take a few pictures without flash. These are the ones that spoke to me the most. All pieced ones because that is my thing, but there were some beautiful applique ones there too.



Double Irish Chain, c. 1862
maker unknown

 The blue in the small squares is from the same print, which was also used in the narrow border. I wonder if the lighter fabric in this quilt was once a darker blue that has faded. Was it once a two-color quilt? The Baptist fan quilting was fantastic. Hope you can see it in the detail show below.

Sorry, I didn't get the details on the maker.

I liked this one because the points were well chopped off in many places. It made me smile. I could relate to this quilter! A great looking quilt despite imperfections.



Dutch Rose Variation, c. 1855
made by Sarah C. (Vaughan) Black, 1834-1914

 Loved the colors and the design of this one. As you study it, you can see the careful color placement. The center stars alternate dark blue and pinkish star points, and in the outer circle pinkish points radiate from the center ones. The green parts looked like they were appliqued. The quilting is also amazing!

Broken Wheel Variation, 1855-1862
Made by Mary Elizabeth Byrod (Fortenbaugh), 1838-1929

This one I liked because it looked complicated, but really wasn't. In person you could see that the block is a nine-patch arrangement on point with square-in-a-square blocks in the corners, two rectangles in the outer middle positions, and white in the center. That's not so hard! I also like the way the whole thing is framed in half-square triangles.

You can see more pictures and read more about the exhibit in this post on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog and in this post from another blog I follow. The exhibit runs through Sept. 14, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays except state holidays.

End of the year finishes

Maybe it was the threat of another year passing and these quilts not being complete that compelled me to stitch binding on six quilts. Yeah. Six. Now there's just the hand stitching to do. At least I won't be watching TV with idle hands for awhile.

Got the binding on one of the twin's monkey quilts done. Finally. I used a blue satin (which looks white in this pic, but isn't really) and made the binding extra wide so there'd be a good bit of it for them to touch. I've noticed that little kids like the soft feel of satin. The blue center squares are flannel, and the browns and light blue monkey print are regular quilting cotton. Hope they like the textures. The pattern is my own invention to show off the monkeys.

Here's the back. Leftover monkey fabric and a couple of very cute prints with monkeys I found after the quilt tops were done. One more identical quilt to bind, and these can be mailed. Well before their second birthday!

Also finished the binding on the orange stars for Luke. Soon as I get the binding on his brother's quilt, I can put these in the mail too. Well before they graduate from college!

This is the back of of the orange stars quilt. More orange.  Of course.

I wasn't planning to do anything more with this pinwheel top, but something about it was bugging me. I used the last bits of the black with gold print to border it, and it looks much better. I'd love to add another border in red or purple, but there's not enough of either color for that. I'll just leave it on the wall for awhile to see if I'm inspired what to do next. If not, it will go into the cupboard to keep some other tops company.

Barbara Brackman has started a new blog, Civil War Quilts, where each week she'll give a pattern for an 8-inch block related to the American Civil War. There'll be stories and pictures too. A block a week. That's doable, and I could use up some of my reproduction fabrics that I haven't touched in awhile. Hmmmm.