Civil War Baskets for March

I think it's such fun to make one little quilt a month from the books many of you say you love so much. What good are the books doing sitting on the shelf?? Bring them out and make some of the projects with me this year. This month, the quilt we will be making is The Civil War Baskets quilt from my book Remembering Adelia.

Seeing the quilts you make from the patterns gives meaning to Adelia's story and makes me so happy I took the time to write about her and create projects I think she may have loved. I wish we had some of the quilts she made, don't you?

 

This quilt may take a little longer than some of the others we've made but you will be so happy with this one when you're finished. So maybe it would be a good idea to get started soon - picking out fabrics and cutting your pieces this weekend if you have time, instead of waiting until later in the month. (Cut the pieces for one block at least, just to try it and see how long it actually takes you if you are planning on making the original 12-block version).

 If the thought of making the appliqued handles for the baskets is stressing you out - don't let it keep you from trying this quilt. Here's a tutorial I did last year on the Sew We Quilt blog for making the curved handles.  They're actually pretty easy.

Adelia's story still touches my heart every time I pick up the book and I am so grateful I stumbled upon her diary a few years ago and had the chance to bring her story to life. In the diary, she presents a picture of life in a small town in Illinois, not far from where I live now, that was torn apart by the war. Women did the best they could to live their lives as normally as possible while chaos swirled around them. One of the things I tried to convey in the book was that they lived in a  close-knit community where people cared about their neighbors and, knowing that all were affected in some way, helped each other through this difficult time in 1861.

Adelia with one of her daughters and her little dog, "Bob" the pug, LOL.  This was taken much later in the 19th century, years after the war was over.

I felt a certain kinship with Adelia as I read through and wrote about her diary. I talked about her a few times on the blog -  here's one post if you're interested in reading more about her.

Have fun making these little baskets. I know some of you have told me that this is a quilt you really wanted to make. If you are in my yahoo group SmallQuiltTalk you can go to Files and see the suggestions for making an alternate version of this quilt. Two versions, actually. I've already started the one-block basket quilt and will frame it with a couple of borders and show you later. It's so sweet!