Historical quilts

My bff is the sweetest lady in the world. I go to her home every Monday and sew, cut and quilt my day with her. Sometimes we open a box she has in a closet and carefully unfold the contents, usually something that makes her smile. Her mother was an experienced needlewoman in crocheting, embroidery, cross stitch....actually everything, except quilting. My bff is a quilter and has made tons of them. She lives alone, lost her spouse years ago, along with her parents. She naps in the afternoon after lunch and watches wrestling on TV 4 nights a week. 

I brought an awesome book to her house to show her THE GRAVEYARD QUILT. It is possibly the most inventive quilt a woman has done to work thru the grief of losing her children. I showed her the book and the quilt. She must have been thinking of this quilt alot the past few weeks. She wants to make one. So do I. I don't find the quilt macabre. I want to make one. I have tried to do some measuring and guesstimating and think I have it down. Next Monday, we are going to go thru our stashes and see what we have. I want to  use tea dyed muslin between blocks, borders and for the center.                                                

In 1836, a woman named Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell began stitching a quilt in memory of her two-year old son, John, who had just died. In 1843, she added another son who had died at the age of 19. What’s so unusual about her quilt is that it features a graveyard in the center; on the top is where the graveyard is located in Monroe County, Ohio.

The outer border has appliqued fencing, and also up the center, from the bottom. Now, if you look closely, you'll see embroidered vines, leaves and flowers, twined thru the fencing. The original quilt has walnut hull dyed little coffins. We don't have those here, just pecans.

This is going to be fun, me and the bff. I want to get alot of it cut and prepped and ready for my trip to see sister. She came to see me last year, now it's my turn to go see her!

If you want more info on this historical beauty, visit:

http://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Roseberry-Mitchells-Graveyard-Quilt/dp/0962939927 or:

http://www.kyhistory.com:2010/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Artifacts&CISOPTR=35&CISOBOX=1&REC=3

So, what do you think?