I’ve been slowly but surely working on finishing the Civil War quilt top. This is a project begun in January 2011 when Barbara Brackman started her Civil War Quilts Block of the Week blog commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.  What a wonderful blog and I want to thank Barbara for each week giving us an interesting tidbit of Civil War history as well as a block pattern representing that history.  Many blocks were quite challenging and I learned so much!  I can see my skill progress in looking at the earlier blocks compared to those later in the year.

I’m very proud of this quilt top! So I want it for our king size bed – which meant borders upon borders.

The predominant fabric line in this quilt is Neesha by Sentimental Studios for Moda – which has been discontinued.  I had to do a lot of internet searching and shopping to come up with the border fabrics.  The teal in the small border is not Neesha but I liked the way it pulled the other teals out of the florals in the other fabrics.

Now I just need to figure out a backing fabric and I’m off to the long arm quilter!  I will post pictures when it is quilted and bound, I promise!

Have a great week, y’all!

The Civil War Flickr group that has been following Barbara Brackman’s Civil War Block of the Week is a truly wonderful group.  Last June the group began collaborating on a group quilt as a thank you gift for Barbara.  I was pleased to be one of the contributors.  Here is the finished quilt:

The block I made is in the fourth row from the top, fifth block from the left.  It is called Rail Road Crossing:

There were many contributors from all over the world, but special mention goes to Becky Brown who assembled the quilt, Dustin, our Flickr group admin and organizer, and Deb Jacobs who quilted the quilt.

Barbara Brackman’s blog has not only helped create some beautiful quilts, but also long-lasting relationships, forged through the internet but brought to reality in a group quilt that we hope will be treasured for many years to come.