WWI Block of the Month - French Star and My Country

I guess I have too many "Blocks of the X" projects because I don't seem to have done a post for this series for June.

The June block was My Country - straightforward piecing. I love how when I fussy cut Vicki's deep blue shibori to highlight the whiter parts, it looks like faded denim in this block.

July was French Star. Perhaps there was another way to do this when the block was invented, but the designer of our series gave instructions for raw edge fused applique for the white curved pieces. 

I used foundation paper piecing to make the blue and red star, which was quite pretty without the white applique.  (Sherrye wondered how it was pieced - there's a square of the red in the middle, surrounded by the blue points with a small red right triangle between each pair going around the square, related to an hourglass or quarter square triangle block. The block is put together like a 9 patch around the center square.) The 8 curved applique pieces make an usual block.

I have had a couple of other projects to work on this week, so I have not yet finished the machine stitching around the 34 leaves on the French Star, but that will be done before we see the August block.  I haven't done last weekend's Austen block yet either.

Summer Sweater

I finished this sweater and have worn it but didn't get pictures taken until this week.

The original sweater was cropped - I lengthened it by just a few inches. I foolishly bought the yarn because I got an ad for a deal on it in email and it came in this nice minty green color I like. There are a lot of other things I wanted to knit first, and I prefer a finer gauge (this is worsted) but I'm happy with it anyway.

Threads of Memory - July 1864 - Oberlin Star

This block celebrates the town of Oberlin Ohio and the role of the local people in defying the Fugitive Slave Act -

The first time I made it for some inexplicable reason, I put put the tiny triangles on the inner side of that 4-way intersection - where I have the red fabric. I lost the effect of a glowing rounded square behind the star so I remade those four quarter-square triangle segments. 

I like this Ohio Star with the added detail.

I have no letters from Eli or Shepherd with Indiana's 52nd Regiment for July 1864. The Regimental History shows them moving around, spending most of July in Mississippi. Picking up where I left off  in June, it says: "Colliersville, Tenn., June 23. Near Lafayetteville June 23. Smith's Expedition to Tupelo July 5-21. About Pontotoc July 11-12. Harrisburg, near Tupelo, July 14-15. Old Town (or Tishamingo) Creek July 15."  On modern maps, I can find Collierville (no "S") outside of Memphis, and  Lafayette County in Mississippi, not far west of Pontotoc and Tupelo, but no Lafayetteville in either Tennessee or Mississippi. Tishomingo Creek is north of Tupelo.

Here is a link to a brief Wikipedia description of Smith's Expedition to Tupelo - a Union success except they almost immediately had to retreat back to Memphis because of spoiled rations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith%27s_Expedition_to_Tupelo

There is no other activity noted for the 52nd until the first of August.

My Great Grandfather John and great-great uncle Billy are still with the 82nd - we left them at Kennesaw Mountain at the end of June. They continued to battle the rebels, pushing to Atlanta. On the 4th, they fought a short battle at Marietta and were given the rest of the day to celebrate the holiday. Fighting continued for the next four days at the Chattahoochee River. One of the 82nd's soldiers was wounded and another killed. Company commander Allen W. Brown wrote a letter describing the country as "the most forsaken looking that I have even seen since I have been in the Army for nobody is at home and not many ever lived here. But everything is flying south before the Yankee Army." In another letter, he tells his wife, "The boys are all well and feel very well considering the heavy march that they have made. Our Regt. lack twenty men now of being as big as Co. A and B when we left Madison. Company A and B had 200 men then and now the whole Regt. only has one hundred and 80 men now commissioned and all there is some other Regts. with less a number than us." They have full rations and their communications are safe. To reassure his wife he will not be harmed, he describes exchanges during the fighting - "We are about a quarter of a mile from the river and the river is about two hundred yards wide and the Rebels occupy the other side of the river. But the boys are on very peaceable terms and when our boys have orders to shoot, they will holler "you to your holes Jonneys" and when the Rebels have orders to shoot, they will holler "you to your holes Yanks", and the first shot fired from either side is always aimed high so as to give each party time to get into their holes." He also credits the Rebels for not giving up and says they are "not demoralized as some of the newspapers say they are... they are well organized and determined to hold their ground." 

The Army constructed a pontoon bridge to cross the river under cover of night on the 17th. They advanced to Peach Tree Creek and had to ford it, as the bridge had been burned.  It took some maneuvering, but the rebels were outnumbered and fell back with little resistance.  The press to Atlanta continued through the end of July.

This Wikimedia Commons map depicts the Union Army's advance from Chattanooga, back in May through the end of August.

On Stage at the Shindig

All three of the Mountain Jam Circle members were at the Shindig on the 12th of July so the organizers let us get up on stage to show it off - Norris' camera changed the aqua/teal blues but it still makes a graphic impact on the stage.

The Folk Heritage Committee also invited us to have a "sponsor banner" - but gave us about 2-3 days to submit our design.  We quickly threw a logo together, without really realizing what the size they offered would look like from any distance -

Yeah, I know, you're not even sure where to look.  Here's some help -

Clever Alice came up with the "Stitching traditions together" that is absolutely perfect.  Well, if we do this again, we'll make the letters much larger and not concentrate on our beautiful quilt design so much!

Austen Family Album Block 16 - Lucky Pieces

A block of all triangles with many options for coloring.

 I had fun with a little shading.

Austen Family Album Week 15 - King's Crown

I like the look of this block with all the triangles, but I'd rather sew a Bear's Paw block - same configuration of little triangles around the outside, but you are spared the four seam traffic jams.

I used the solid lmedium periwinkle around the center and figure I can quilt something interesting and distracting there.

Austen Family Album Week 14 - Home Comfort

Not so sure about the outcome of my fussy cutting this week - I thought I'd try to place that interesting print in the four squares in the corners, which meant switching the pieces that make the center to the lighter value. But I'm not going to remake it!  The upper right corner appears dark - that's just some trees moving around changing the light while I was taking the photo.

The block's story came with the sad truth about what happened to the mentally disabled in Jane Austen's era: her older brother was placed in a home for his care and was not much discussed. Our author applauded that decision over placing him in an institution, something that was still encouraged when she was teaching special ed not many years ago.