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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A preliminary Ta Dah!

At last I have my Civil War quilt top together and I think I will name it "The Blues and The Greys".

Hopefully, it is now published on the flickr site on the Barbara Brackman Civil War blogspot. To get it there was beyond my technical abilities so I had to call on my Technical Director aka my ever obliging son. Together we muddled through and something is there now.

But I thought I might put more detail/photos here:






Here is the completed top. It should measure 96" x 96" (I have not actually taken the tape measure to the quilt to check it...) so it was a big challenge to even photograph it.

Right now I don't have a destination for this as a finished quilt. It is clearly bed sized but I don't have a bed crying out to have it so the incentive to get it finished is not there. Once I know what I'm going to do with it I will be better able to decide on how it should be quilted.

Here is a closeup of the central portion. I never was able to find out the identity of "Soldier Y" so here he is in the Union Army Star. There was a great ship print I wanted to include so Naval Victory from the Rosemary Youngs book was a good venue for that. And, to honor my friend Judy, I included a Possession of Manassas block (also from the Rosemary Youngs book) Those four blocks were extras over and beyond the 53 blocks that came from the Barabar Brackman block of the week blog.

Here is a general shot of some blocks. Excuse the rippling effect that comes to you courtesy of hanging the top from a long tomato stake (which was only as long as the quilt!) hooked on a couple of cuphooks in the trim board below the garage roof overhang on the deck.

 General Robert E. Lee.

 General Ulysses Grant.

 General George Meade

General Stonewall Jackson

The four Generals were necessary additions as I needed a total of 61 "sampler" blocks as well as the 60 setting blocks. At the end of the year I had more blue blocks than grey so I decided that the setting blocks should be mostly grey to even things up. Oh, I must also note that I got the inspiration for this setting from  postings made by Thalia T and Elleninfl. Thank you to those two quilters.

If you have been reading this blog for a long time you will know that I decided to make my blocks using blue and grey fabrics rather than using civil war reproduction fabrics. I chose a silver grey on white Jinny Beyer fabric to use as my one constant fabric and it appears in almost every block (perhaps not in all the extra blocks). Two thirds of the way through the project I ran out of that fabric and it was a real struggle to find another yard or so but, thanks to the internet, I was able to get more. Trust me, there is very little left.

I am very excited about starting the new Barbara Brackman block of the week "Grandmothers Choice". Again I will choose one fabric to appear in every block but this time I think I will purchase at least four yards to guard against running out.

It is so great to have this top finished!

5 comments:

Sherrye said...

Dorry, it turned out really nice. Too bad you have temporarily lost your enthusiasm for it. I'm sure it will come back (like you said) when you figure out it's home.

Cheryl K. said...

Congratulations on this achievement! It's a serene quilt in the subdued palette, depicting such tumultuous times. I think you're going to enjoy having it!

Rhonda said...

It's really nice Dorry, you've done a great job! and such a lot work as it is a very large quilt especially assembled on point. You have a lot of patience and it has paid off. I bet you are glad it is all in one piece though!

Just waiting for Grandmother now! The colour scheme sounds nice. I'll look forward to that one. Can't decide if I will do it or not??

Heather said...

What a wonderful quilt Dorry. It shows your attention to detail as usual with the beautiful setting, fine blue sashing with the tiny red squares and a gorgeous grey palette.
I don't know about doing the next one - those colours don't grab me (sorry Rhonda - and Judy who probably love them) - though I may reconsider when I see the blocks (lets hope they are a 9inch or a 6 inch size!!).

Kerry Payne said...

Wow - I can't believe such a well co-ordinated quilt arose from a block of the month - you obviously gave great thought to the colours from Day 1. I love the grey which adds a very shadowy dimension to the whole. It's a really lovely quilt.

And what do you mean you don't have a bed for it - isn't your own bedroom crying out for redecoration? Though I guess I would have to admit this is not exactly a feminine quilt around which to build ones bedrooom decor but you might think about it being one in a series that can be rotated.

I think I might now have to go and see if I might be up for the next Barbara Brackman challenge - who else has their hand up??