New Orleans House Project

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Hospital Sketches: Periwinkle Wreath

So...Barbara Brackman is doing another BOM on her Civil War Quilts blog.  

The theme for this BOM is Hospital Sketches - looking at the roles of women in Civil War hospitals.  

I knew I would be participating, because - historical appliqué patterns AND a hospital setting!  


I don't think I've really talked about my profession on the blog.  Yup, I'm a nurse, and I originally trained at an old-fashioned hospital-based nursing school about 100 years ago.  That's my graduation picture - we had finally given up wearing starched white pinafores and graduated to more modern nurses' uniforms.

While I waited for the first BOM block to be published, I debated over what type of fabrics to use.  My love for blue and white quilts was my final inspiration, because I've never done a blue and white appliqué quilt.
I assembled a basket full of potential fabrics, some of which were leftovers from other projects and some new and uncut fat quarters.  I also decided to keep my background fabric fairly simple and purchased yardage in a cross-weave type off-white fabric.

The first block, Periwinkle Wreath, was a tribute to Louisa May Alcott, who served in a Union hospital during the war.  I won't give away her story, because you should hop over and read it!

As much as I'd like to be doing hand-stitched appliqué, I knew I'd NEVER finish the blocks in a timely fashion.  I used freezer paper and starch to prep the shapes, and machine appliqué using invisible thread to stitch them in place.  Yippee for finishing!

FYI, if you have a Facebook account, there is a Facebook group for the BOM if you want to see all the different blocks.