Isabella Buchanan Edmondson

It's Civil War Saturday, and the beginning of 2012.... time for me to continue working on my quilt.  I'm on the next chapter of Rosemary's book.  We get to meet Isabella Buchanan Edmondson, a Confederate spy during the Civil War.  'She wrote often in her diaries of her interest in sewing and knitting, as well as her escapades of running contraband for federal lines.'  The first block that I worked on this week is called, 'Thousands of Diamonds'.  Isabella writes about a spring snow storm and how the night before the ice in the trees looked like thousands of diamonds. 'A more magnificent scene I never witnessed, the forest glistened like thousands of diamonds, sun set was glorious...' Doesn't that sound beautiful...

The second block that I worked on is called, 'Preparations for Smuggling'.  The diary entry is dated, March 16, 1864.  Isabella writes "...Mrs. Kirk and I began to fix my articles for smuggling, we made a balmoral of the Grey cloth for uniform, pinned the Hats to the inside of my hoops - tied the boots with a strong list, letting them fall directly in front, the cloth having monopolized the back & the Hats the side - All my letters, brass buttons, money..."  More diary entries from Isabella Buchanan Edmondson can be found here.  So let's get sewing... this is how I complete the next two blocks... I printed up foundation papers using the companion CD for Rosemary's book.  You can get the companion EQ CD here.

I used fabrics similar to what is shown in the book... one of these days I'll surprise you and use something different!

This block is done in one big block. The block has 29 sections.  I wrote the fabric colors in each section so that I don't loose track of what goes where....

Sewing on the lines, notice how I sew past the seam line.

The center of the block so far...

The sewing is done, now I need to trim the block up, remembering to leave a 1/4" seam allowance.

'Thousands of Diamonds'
March 1, 1864

My fabric for 'Preparations for Smuggling'.



I cut my fabric into strips to make it easier to paper piece.  I also wrote the fabric colors onto my foundation paper. The block is broken down into 5 sections for easy piecing.




On the center strip it is broken down into 5 pieces.  I took the liberty to sew it in 3.  I did the same with two other strips for this block.  The picture shows the other strip that I combined sections.  In the strip there are black sections side by side, I combine those into one piece while paper piecing.



Here you can see how I skipped a couple of seams and combined three sections into one.  I did this because all three sections are black.

The five rows are done and I'm sewing the sections together.

Ackkkkkk! I sewed one of the rows on wrong!  Where's 'Jack' my seam ripper!

Preparations For Smuggling
March 16, 1864

Remember to post your progress on the Civil War Diary Quilt Group on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1547598@N25/

Next weekend I will be working on 'Yankee Papers'.  I'm hoping to get 'Glorious News' done too.  I learned something interesting this week.... do you know what a nail is in relation to fabric?  I don't remember covering this in home ec class, do you? It's quite the trivia question isn't it.  2 1/4 inches = 1 nail,  4 nails = 1 quarter, who knew?   I've never heard of anyone asking to have a nail cut... have you?  Hope that you are able to join me next week as I continue on my Civil War Diary Quilt.
Happy quilting and perfect stitches to you!