Interlocked

Soon after Joyce's daughter Tanya announced her engagement, I started working on ideas for a quilt for her wedding, now less than two weeks away. Since Tanya's generation doesn't really read blogs - especially not blogs written by aunts, I think I can post photos of the quilt, almost ready for giving.

I put it on a clean sheet on the driveway to take the photos - the leaves kept blowing around and getting on the quilt, so I had to make my photo session quick.

The blocks are a traditional one called "Interlocked Squares" that I thought was appropriate for a wedding.  I did them in two colors and alternated their placement in crossing lines. It should remind you of the quilt I worked on with Alice and Ann to support the Shindig on the Green this past summer.

I kept the quilting pretty simple overall, in keeping with the Modern Quilting look I wanted for the quilt: lots of negative space and geometric themes keeps it in the basic idea of a Modern Quilt - though the Interlocked Squares block with its Y-seams is not one they would normally gravitate to. The quilted motif in the middle of the blocks also interlocks.  The fabrics in the center of the blocks are both music-theme prints.

I wanted all the negative space to feature some special quilting. I used a silhouette photo of Tanya when she was a dancer that Joyce sent me a few years ago.  My best friend from high school Ginger Gebka is a graphics artist - she turned it into a simple line drawing for me to quilt.

 The backing is a green and white floral - I like it when I can see the quilting on the back and it shows nicely in this photo I took after going back in the house, away from the leaves.

 

The label text is printed over the photo I used for the quilted silhouettes, turned green and artistically mellowed. I photographed the label laying on the front of the quilt - I'll sew it on the back during TV time this evening. 

Tanya's quilt will be ready to wrap by tomorrow!

Fun lace knit

I just finished this sweater and modeled it with my new (first ever) Little Black Dress.

The yarn is a hand-dyed blend of silk and Blue-Faced Leicester.  Both fibers are known for their lustrous qualities.

The design is by Fiona Ellis and was published in Vogue Knitting magazine a couple of years ago. It looks pretty straightforward across the back with the lace sleeves.

And in this full on shot you may not notice the unique design feature.

 

So here is a closeup of the lace patterning in the front. The sweater is seamed and the lace strips meet up with the lace on the back, but it's knitted with short rows in the stockinette sections to give these interesting diagonal lines on the front. 

It was a fun knit. I'm going to enjoy wearing it!

Civil War Block of the Month - October 1863 - Shooting Stars

Diarist Sarah Morgan witnessed fighting for Port Hudson in Louisiana. The block is called "Shooting Stars."

The pink fabric shows very bright in my photo - it is more subtle in reality.

The 52nd made expeditions to Covington, Durhamsville and Fort Randolph from September 28 - October 5, 1863. On the 6th of October, Shep reported he had been having a kind of ache for a week or two but he was feeling "first rate" at the time of his writing.  He commented on the battle his brother Billy had no doubt just been in, saying, "I suppose that Old Rose (as he is called) got rather the worst of the bargain in his last fight. I expect Bragg thinks he has done wonders. Well, he has, but it took the biggest part of the southern Confederacy to help him. Henry, what is the reason that our men can't reinforce as quick as the Rebels can? I don't know how it is, but I am afraid they will pitch into Rosecran[s] and whip him again before he gets sufficient reinforcements to stand ground. If such should be the case, it would be a bad blow on our Army and a great advantage to them. But then, what is the use of fretting... we should do what we think to be our duty and trust the rest to Him who rules the universe. For the rest, for I think, that in His own good time, He will work out all things for the best. ... I think the South has too large an Army and too much territory to be whipped in a very short time. But I have full faith that we will conquer them after a while." He wanted to hear from his brother Billy in the 82nd because reading over the wounded list he knew they were in the fighting. He'd recently received a letter but Billy wrote it prior to the battle. 

Meanwhile, the 82nd was in Chattanooga under new commanders doing picket duty. They were still in the first brigade, under Brigadier General A. Baird, in Brigadier General Turchin's division. The Union's food rations ran low because the Confederates had the supply routes cut off.  Thousands of horses and mules starved to death and the men were on reduced rations. On the night of October 26th, the 82nd was in the contingent that marched and traveled in 50 boats to Brown's Ferry to build a bridge, creating a new supply line. Some of the 82nd were wounded by Rebel picket fire but the bridge was completed. You can find a detailed account of the opening of the "cracker line" at this link: http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Cracker_Line

There is an undated letter from Billy to his sister that must date to the time right after the Brown's Ferry expedition, saying he is camped on the top of a high knob, but Billy arrived after the bridge was built. "Our Regt. came over here while I was gone and drove the Rebel army. The Rebels still hold Lookout Mountain but I don't think they will hold it much longer. The steamboats have commenced running here now, think we will have more rations soon. We have been on half rations for some time but any way to put down this cursed rebellion."  Later he wrote that he was sorry to hear that Mother "will worry about us as she does. Tell her that she must not do so, if she knew how unconcerned we are, she would feel better. ... We have got very good winter quarters built in town if we get to stay in them."

The Confederates continued to shell the Union camps, believing they had the city surrounded and that the Union Army would surrender. General Grant had food brought in first, then ammunition to prepare for the next battle, as the Army had only enough for about a single day of fighting when he arrived in Chattanooga.

Civil War Block of the Month - Late September 1863 - Hunter's Star

This block is not one prescribed by Barbara Brackman's Dixie Diary series. It is known as Hunter's Star, and I chose it in honor of the 82nd Indiana's colonel, Morton C. Hunter.

I have always been interested in this block.  It is usually made in just two fabrics because when the blocks are set together, block-to-block,  the stars form at every intersection, as seen in this 3x3 block "quilt" I made in software:

It is a rather intricately pieced blocks with those many trapezoid shapes. I made my job slightly easier by sizing the block to finish at 8 inches, instead of the 6 inches I have been making the blocks of this Dixie Diary series.

With the Hunter's Star block I chose to remember Colonel (later Brigadier General) Hunter, who was a lawyer and later a U.S. Representative from Indiana, because of the role he played during the battle 150 years ago.

From Wikipedia:  ".... when Confederate Gen. Longstreet routed the right wing of the Army of the Cumberland, Hunter on his own initiative was the first officer to form a new position on Horseshoe ridge that was to become the line that saved the army from destruction. His commanding officer John Connell wrote of Hunter's stubborn resistance on that ridge 'which truly and most fortunately changed the fortunes of that disastrous day, and saved the army from worse than defeat.'"

I blogged about the 82nd's role in the Battle of Chickamauga on our joint blog a few years ago, with photos from our visit to the battlefield that can be see at this link.  There are no published letters from Billy during the entire month of September, but  I know that my great grandfather John was among the soldiers who held the line on Snodgrass Hill against the onslaughts by the Confederates all afternoon with no food or water. We do have a first-hand account of the events of September 19th and 20th as seen by the members of Company B that Billy and John were in, written by A. W. Brown in letters to his wife dated the 22nd, 150 years ago today.  At the time of his writing, Brown and the other men were waiting for another attack by the Confederates that never came.  He assured his wife they had plenty of rations and ammunition, so he thought they would be able to hold them.  He reported that the Rebels got all their knapsacks and oil cloths and blankets and dog-tents, but he was able to get more blankets and he and my great-grandfather John managed to get a tent, though not many others in the company had them.

Civil war Block of the Month - September 1863 - The Hands of Strangers

I'm glad the block this one was an interesting one.  It seems to be a variation on the Uneven Nine Patch, with the split in the center making it different. Barbara Brackman added that detail to symbolize the break in our Southern diarist Sarah Morgan's family life, with a Union officer living in the family home.

But September marks the beginning of the end of the war for the Army of the Cumberland and my ancestors. We'll start with a letter from Shep at Fort Pillow.

Shep tells his brother and sister in a letter dated in September (the exact date is not legible) that his visit home did him good, "for I have been hearty since I left home as ever I was." there has been a "good deal" of sickness in the Regiment however., mostly ache or chills and fever.  He hopes to get another month at home before long. Shep believes they will be able to "use up" the Rebs this fall and winter.  Black men, women and children have been "coming in so fast as ever."  Shep moved a group of 58 of them to Island Tennessee. Shep took another group of black men, soldiers, to Columbus, Kentucky, also on the Mississippi River.

The 52nd Regiment left Fort Pillow on September 6th, 1863, to march to Missouri to pursue Confederate Major General Sterling Price's forces.

Meanwhile, a long way to the east of the Mississippi, September, 1863 provided the moment for John, Billy and the 82nd Indiana to prove themselves.

The 82nd finished their crossing of the Tennessee River on September 2nd. They used make-shift rafts, which could not carry fully loaded wagons so it was slow going. They set up camp to wait for more provisions, then marched through Hog Jaw Valley to Raccoon Mountain.  They kept moving, south to Trenton, then turned east.

Billy wrote to his sister from camp in Lookout Valley Georgia, near Chattanooga on September 9th. He doesn't have time to tell the full history of the march from Tennessee but he "came through alright. Enjoyed myself fine all the way through and am fat and hearty now, ready to go ahead." He is anxious to meet up with the Rebels but interrupts this train of thought to talk about a dream in which he was at home on a furlough of two days - a great aggravation as the time would be over before he could see all of the family.

On September 11th, the 82nd moved to cross Lookout Moutain in support of General Negley's Division at McLemore's Cove. It was slow but they arrived on the 13th and advanced two miles to Chickamauga Creek, camping east of Lee's mill. On the 17th, they guarded the four fords between Gower's and Pond Spring. From there, the entire Corps moved to Crawfish Spring, then Chattanooga and La Fayette Road, marching all night to reach Kelly's Farm by daylight on the 19th.  The Northern and Southern armies were trying to beat each other to Chattanooga, and came together where the main roads meet at Chickamauga Creek.

The 82nd's role at the Battle of Chickamauga was extensive, so I'll save it for another post later in the month. 

Block 52 - Sister's Choice

I was surprised that Sister's Choice was not one of the blocks Ms. Brackman chose for the Grandmother's Choice quilt, and almost from the beginning, had an idea for a family story to tell to go with the block.  I made the block in the greens and golds I think of when I think of Faye's house.

I'll let my sister Joyce tell her Sister's Choice story.

Sometime after Grandpa's disabling stroke, Mom moved him to the Glen Ellyn house so she could take care of him in his last years. Grandma still lived in the Elburn house but eventually, when she was in her nineties, taking care of the old house by herself was too much. As she prepared to move to an apartment in Kaneville, her daughters all helped to go through her possessions, including the boxes in the attic. Among them, everyone was surprised to find a silk dress and the shoes I photographed for Cheryl's Week 19 - Old Maids Ramble post. Grandma was surprised too - it was her wedding dress and she kept saying it was not possible because, she repeated, "I burned that dress!" (In those days, people in the country burned their household refuse.) Obviously, she had not burned it - perhaps Grandpa was designated to do the job and couldn't bring himself to? In any case, the dress came down from the attic, where it was examined in detail. I tried it on so Grandma could see it.

Joyce in Faye's 1913 Silk Wedding Dress

Grandma's mother, our great grandmother Carrie, made the dress, and we all marveled at the techniques she used. This dress was an extremely up-to-date style for its day, as evidenced by the Butterick pattern illustration Cheryl used in the Week 19 post, and in this photograph from the New York Public Library collection. They say this is Margaret Wilson, but from reading the Wilson family history, this must be Jessie Woodrow Wilson, who was married in the White House in November 1913 (Margaret Wilson never married.)

Image courtesy of the New York Public Library. Their record at this link.

Notice the touches of lace, the detail of the gather in the hem of the skirt and the blouson style of the bodice of both dresses.

Silk is very strong, but unfortunately, it used to be treated in a way that destroyed the fibers. Hiding in the attic for decades undisturbed, the dress held together but by October 1988, when I was going to get married, it had shattered and was not wearable. Mom copied the design, making a pattern by tracing off the seam lines of the original dress, so that I could wear it more than 75 years after Grandma and Grandpa's wedding.

Joyce and Don

Unlike the silk, the original lace was in good condition. Mom was able to use it to trim my dress. The sleeve detail is shown in this photo of Dad walking us down the aisle.

Cheryl made her dress and chose a pattern that repeated the gathered hem detail of the original dress in her lace over-blouse. She also copied the decorative buckle on Grandma's dress best shown in these photos.

Although Grandma did not live to see me get married, Mom finished the remake about a month before the wedding, and Grandma got to see me in it when it was done. It was wonderful to be able to wear the dress for my wedding as a tribute to my grandmother and her long lasting marriage to my grandfather.

Joyce

Faye and Fielding at the front door of the Glen Ellyn house, probably in the mid to late 1970's.

Not-a-shower gift

My niece Tanya is getting married in less than two months!  Her sister Niki is Maid of Honor and hosted a luncheon for her last weekend.  When Joyce was here, she shopped my stash for a couple of fabrics that I could make a gift from. I managed to whip these up and sent them to Joyce to bring to the occasion for Tanya.  There are six placemats, with napkins that match the backing/binding.

Joyce picked the green and magenta stylized floral of the wide stripe in the center.  Dorry will recognize the two most outstanding leaf prints I used next to the magenta bits nearer the edges.  She sent the light one peaking out from under the napkins to use in Dana's quilt (which I did to good effect!) and the one on the right is from the cutoffs of the backing she gave us with the  Welcome to Chestnut Ridge, quilt top she designed and made for us as a housewarming present in 2007.  (The quilt, though not the backing, is visible at the link.) I also got to include two of Vicki Welsh's shibori hand-dyes that I also used in Dana's quilt.

Block 51 - Indiana Farmer

I may have some kind of masochistic streak to pick the Indiana Farmer block to represent Faye. This was an exceptionally difficult block to piece in an 8 inch size.

I made it with machine piecing with some hand applique of the ends of the little yellow tab shapes.  I think when I quilt it, I can straighten it out a bit.  The green and yellow print fabrics in the star shape (perhaps it is a cogged wheel?) reminded me of Faye's Elburn living room. 


Difficult as this block was to put together, it seemed like the right block to represent Faye who was born and raised in Indiana.  She and Fielding left for Illinois only when their farm failed in 1928, when my mother was a baby.  They remained farmers all their working lives, raising dairy cows, pigs and chickens as well as feed crops. Before Fielding's heart attack, they had a farm near Waterman, Illinois which sat on a bed of gravel. The proceeds from the gravel operating lease allowed them to retire and move back to Elburn where my mother had grown up.  Fielding continued to work into his 80's, gardening for hire, selling Watkins products, and as a watchman at the Kaneville High School.  Faye was the quintessential farmer's wife, as evidenced by the letters she wrote to my mother when she was a freshman in college.  Happily, my mother saved these letters and I have transcribed them for future generations to read of Faye's  work on the farm and love for her children in her own words.

One more reason to choose the Indiana Farmer block was this photograph from Aunt Alice's collection of Faye on a Farmall tractor.  I believe most of the time, Faye worked in the house and in the chicken yard. Someone probably thought it was worth taking a photo of her in her house dress at the wheel.  This tractor would be bright red.

 

Block 50 - Crown of Thorns

My setting for Dana's Grandmother's Choice requires 52 blocks. I decided to make one for each grandmother, and one more.

Today's block is for my grandmother Mary.  Mary was a devoted Catholic from a strong Catholic family -- two of her sisters were nuns.  The strength of her faith is an important part of my memory of her. With my good friend Dorry's help, I chose the Crown of Thorns block to represent that memory.

This Crown of Thorns is made with ornate and metallic fabrics that evoke for me the interiors of Catholic churches here and in Europe.

One childhood memory that includes my Grandmother Mary is the 1965 family trip to New York City and Washington DC.  That year, the Vatican Pavilion at the World's Fair displayed Michelangelo's Pieta, the only time the statue ever traveled outside of the Vatican City.  The Pieta was set on a special platform in a theater with a deep blue background, while viewers moved slowly across the theater on mobile walks at various heights. I was only a child, but looking at the statue with my grandmother made a lasting impression on me.  I know Mary made a trip to the Vatican later (she traveled extensively in retirement) - I wonder if she saw it again?

During that era, most of our family memories were captured on movie film. But we have one very special photo from the trip. We had tickets to the Senate. Richard Anderson, our minister's son, was living in Washington and escorted us around, taking us by way of the Capital Subway system.  It happened that we rode it at the same time as President of the Senate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was traveing with his photographer.

Mary is in the background behind Mom's shoulder and Dana, Hubert Humphrey has his hand on your dad's shoulder. At five, Joyce was too young to be admitted to the Senate chamber and was entertained by Richard in the lobby while we got first-hand exposure to our representatives in action. It's hard to imagine that we all traveled from Chicago to Washington and NYC and back in a 1959 Chevrolet station wagon, luggage and all.

Civil War Block of the Month - August 1863 - Confederate Silver

The block this month recalls deprivations Sarah Morgan and her family in Louisiana suffered.

I think of this as the Hourglass block.

Shep Whitcomb got to go home for a furlough in August, 1863. A letter from a friend still with the regiment on August 11th tells of his testifying for a comrade who was subsequently restored to duty without loss of pay. Another member of the regiment was killed cleaning his own revolver. Interestingly, he tells Shep a letter came for him from Charley (probably Shep's brother, my great great grandfather).  Had the letter been from brother Billy with the 82nd, his friend would have opened it.

Billy sent a letter home to Henry and a sister on August 8th from Camp Thomas, Tennessee, just back from a blackberry scout. He has heard "hints" that England and France were going to attack but hopes that is false.  He is aware that Shep is home and wishes he could be there too, and says that if nothing happens before next year at this time, "we will both be there to stay." He writes, "You spoke about the visiting party at Father's. You said that Shep couldn't relish one of mother's old fashioned dinners. If you think I couldn't, just try me. I'll bet a hoss that I could do a large share towards demolishing one or two anyhow. I might be like the feller's hogs after that.  There is a chance now for enlisting in the regular Army or something similar, but I guess that I shall be content with what I have. Not that I am sick of my bargain, or that I have ever regretted one time that I came, but if I get through with this safe, they may kiss my American star-spangled foot before I will go into it again. I would just as soon be a soldier as anything else if it were not for 2 or 3 objections."

On the 16th of August, with the army planning for capture of Chattanooga, the 82nd broke camp and was sent to Bridgeport to construct a bridge over the Tennessee River. The Bridgeport in question is in the northeast corner of Alabama.  A history of the town, including the destruction and rebuilding of the bridge multiple times, can be found at this link: http://www.historicsouthpittsburgtn.org/Bridgeport.html

After the bridge was completed on the 31st, the 82nd rejoined the army at Battle Creek, and began to cross the Tennessee River there. It took two days to get the regiment across on temporary rafts.