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Washington Whirlwind # 7: Whirling Star
 Washington Whirlwind # 7: Whirling Star for the First Ladyby Elsie RidgleyDespite the war Washington's social life whirled around frequent White House receptions.Above: Mary Lincoln in a typical...
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Mary Moody Emerson's Civil War
 Mary Moody Emerson (1774 - 1863), perhaps in her 20sSilhouette signed Williams, Concord Free Library collection, portrait reproduced in the published journals of her nephew Ralph Waldo Emerson (V....
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Ida Minerva Tarbell's Civil War: Sewing Scraps
 Scraps of madder style cottonsIda Minerva Tarbell (1857-1944)An eminent journalistIda spent her childhood and the Civil War in the oil field country ofwestern Pennsylvania. Her father manufactured...
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Kentucky Classic #5: Rose Tree for Missouri Immigrants
 Kentucky Classic #5: Rose Tree by Becky CollisDecades ago I saw this quilt in Missouri, attributed to Zerelda McClary Oliver, probably born in Paint Lick, Kentucky in Garrard County. She died in...
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's Civil War
 Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) about 1863When the Civil War began Harriet Beecher Stowe was living rather well in Andover, Massachusetts. Royalties from her influential novel Uncle Tom's Cabin...
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Washington Whirlwind #8: White House Steps
 Washington Whirlwind #8: White House Steps by Elsie RidgelyLiving in the White House, the Executive Mansion, in the mid-19th century might be considered a luxury but for some residents it was a death...
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Sarah Atwater's Civil War: The Wide Awakes
 Banner made for a Lincoln political club in 1860by the Ladies of Clarence, New YorkIn the fall of 1860 as the four-way Presidential election approached, a surge of support for Abraham Lincoln appeared...
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Kentucky Classic #8: Kentucky Paw Paw for Louise West Jackman
 Kentucky Classic #8: Kentucky Paw-Paw by Elsie RidgleyKentucky Paw-Paw remembers Kentucky native Louisa West Jackman of Garrard County.Denver Art MuseumThe fruit or buds in this Rose Tree are classic...
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Cornelia Coventry Burling's Civil War
 Chintz quilt associated with Cornelia Ann Burling (1794-1882)Collection of the St. Louis Art Museum.https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/69107/The center is a chintz fruit basket cut out from a...
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Washington Whirlwind # 9: Lady in the White House
Washington Whirlwind # 9: Lady in the White House by Becky BrownMary Todd Lincoln in mourning attire, which she wore mostof her life after Willie's death in 1862.One of many imaginary portraits of...
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Elefair Morrison's Civil War
 Quilt associated with Elefair Morrison (1808-1863)Historic Arkansas CollectionElefair (Ellafair) is rather elusive. She died in Arkansas in the first years of the Civil War. The quilt attributed to...
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Kentucky Classic #7: Wild Persimmon for Lucy Kemper West
 Kentucky Classic #7, Wild Persimmon by Elsie RidgleySome design elements in these Kentucky Classic quilts are quite common, for example the roses with 8 lobes and the buds or fruit we are calling a...
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Links for Kentucky Classic
Kentucky Classic as a 9-block quilt, Blocks 1-7 by Elsie RidgleyOur Block of the Month in applique for Civil War Quilts in 2024 is Kentucky Classic based ona group of mid-19th century designs by women...
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Washington Whirlwind #10: President's Block
 Washington Whirlwind #10: President's Block by Elsie RidgleyWe know all too well that the Lincoln family was heading for more tragedy soon after the Union victory. Five days after Robert E. Lee...
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Cornelia Grinnell Willis's Civil War
 Cornelia Grinnell Willis (1825-1904)Massachusetts's New Bedford Whaling Museum has this poor photo of New Bedford-born Cornelia Willis in her old age, which I have tried to clear up a bit. Is that a...
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Susan Short Harbin's Civil War
 Collection of the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky UniversityDetail of a Cut-Out-Chintz or Broderie Perse quiltAttributed to Susan Short Harbin (1825-1887) of Greenville, Muhlenberg County,...
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Kentucky Classic #8: Whig Rose for Henry Clay
 Kentucky Classic #8: Whig Rose by Elsie RidgleyMid-19th-century Kentucky politics were full of subtle and maybe not-so-subtle divisions, but nearly every Kentuckian---Whig or Democrat--- was proud of...
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Ellen Carver Mobley's Civil War
Name quilt in the collection of Maryland'sWashington County Historical Society attributed to Ellen Carver Mobley (1827-1899)Abigail Koontz of the Washington County Historical Society tells us that...
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Washington Whirlwind #11 Road To the White House (& Away)
                                          Washington Whirlwind #11Road To the White House (& Away) by Jeanne ArnieriRoads go two ways. This month's block remembers the painful road...
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Petticoat Press: Next Year's Pieced Block of the Month
 Petticoat Press: Pieced Block of the Month For 2025 at CivilWarQuiltsWhen the Civil War commenced Americans had over 3,500 newspapers to inform them of battles, policy and shape their opinion. The...
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