I'm happy to say my enthusiasm for a dormant Civil War BOM project has been rekindled!
I started working on this Civil War Tribute BOM by Homestead Hearth in 2011- fabrics by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics. Of course, other projects came along and pushed it to the back burner.
I vowed to get the project re-started this month, and I had a little outside inspiration to help me get motivated. A Civil War photography exhibit opened this month at the New Orleans Museum of Art and I had the opportunity to view the collection this past weekend.
The exhibit was a little overwhelming - I may have to go back just to absorb more of the images. It was wonderful to see many of the well-known Civil War photographic images in person, but what was really moving were all the small, individual portraits of soldiers and/or their loved ones. I spent a lot of time examining the pictures for details of daily life, especially the clothing and fabric!
So I'm currently up to block 6 out of 12 in the project. The fabrics look kind of muddy when photographed, but in person they are full of wonderful details. It helps that quilt historians like Barbara Brackman have helped educate us all on the history of fabric dyeing and textile printing.
One drawback to this project is that although it is called a "block of the month", in reality, the pattern calls for multiple versions of most of the blocks!
I still need to make 3 more versions each of the two blocks on the far right. The finished quilt will measure 110"x112"; I'm not sure I have a place for a quilt that large. I may be dreaming up some way to make two quilts from all these blocks!
