Flag Day and stitching

My grandmother, Rhoda Ann, hand-pieced this Broken Star quilt top. It is at least as old as I am and I've always loved it. It became my mother's and when she retired, she hand quilted it (with a bit of help from me) twenty some years ago. We quilted at my house because I had the floor space for the quilting frames. It just kind of stayed at my house upon completion and when I moved to my current home, it found its way onto the wall. The quilt became the focal point of the family room/kitchen and directed the color scheme of red, white, and blue and a patriotic feel.

My mother had inherited several of her mother's hand-pieced quilt tops. She managed to quilt them all before her death. My five siblings picked from those. They were kind. They knew that the quilt I wanted was already hanging on my wall.

I decided that this quilt was good to share on Flag Day with its patriotic colors. But I also have a greater reverence for all of that hand-piecing.

This morning I finally tackled Civil War quilt block #5, Kansas Troubles. It did indeed cause lots of trouble. There was much unpicking when I discovered that some of those little triangles were pointing the wrong way after completing two of the four base blocks.

Bottom line, if I hadn't found the Civil War Quilts blog on the Saturday morning when Barbara Brackman posted block # 23, Illinois Roads; I don't think I would have tackled this project. I easily completed #23. That gave me courage to go back and try the others already posted, skipping those that looked harder. If I had started at the beginning on January 1st, I probably would have given up!

Now I feel tenacious! And the new fabric worked out so well!