The General's Wives Civil War Tribute Quilt

Dear Quilting Friends,

I cannot believe we are approaching the end of January already! I think the reason this month seems to slip by so quickly is we are busy putting our Christmas stuff away, then trying to get our lives back to "normal" again, and before we know it, it's the end of the month.

One of the great things about the winter months is that it does give us plenty of opportunities to get our projects done. As I write this, it is cold and snowy outside, a perfect day for some sewing, providing you do not have to be somewhere. (This is one of the reasons we quilters have stashes - we must have something to work on whenever the opportunity presents itself!)



As I mentioned in my last blog, I have been working on a quilt titled "The General's Wives," a king size quilt that took over year for my client to complete. Since this is a Civil War tribute quilt, I tried to keep the quilting consistent with the period, and incorporated as many feathers and stars as possible throughout the quilt. The fabrics used are fairly busy, so since it is a little difficult to see the quilting on the blocks, I have tried to show you portions of the back of the quilt as well. The center of the quilt has 5 appliqued stars to represent the wives of 5 Civil War generals. A star was quilted into the pentagon center with stippling in the background to allow the stars to stand out. Feathers in the outer blue star points help the center area to look like one big star.

For the outer 4 corner blocks, to make it look general-ish (is that a word?) a feathered wreath with a star in the center was quilted. The feathered sashing can also be seen here.

The outer border area is also a feathered pattern, as well as the inner border blocks. Lots of feathers in this quilt for those of you who are crazy about feathers!

It is difficult to see the quilted patterns, so here is a shot of the back of the quilt.

For the various pieced colored blocks, I used continuous curve, feathers (of course), curls, and stars wherever possible. In this block, the stars are in the center and corners.

Below is an overall photo of the back of the quilt so, although they are small,  you can get an idea of the various quilting patterns:

As you can see, there are feathers everywhere! I hope you have enjoyed looking over this quilt with me.

 I had thought things would slow down at bit, with Christmas being behind me, but then again - it is still winter, (when we quilters quilt), so I am as busy as ever. I am currently working on a card trick block quilt, so you will be seeing that one next!

Until then, happy quilting! Cathy