BETSEY'S STORY

 Every once in a while I get the urge to read more about Civil War quilts, then work with my all-time favorite block.

 I've been in love with this little block since it first came to light in 1985 in Linda Otto Lipsett's book, "Remember Me, Women and Their Friendship Quilts".  Ms. Lipsett details the history of this friendship quilt made between 1846 and 1875 by Betsey M. Wright Lee, plus it details the struggles Betsey endured during her lifetime.  I first worked on a friendship quilt with this block in 1987 when a friend moved from our area. Then in 1989, I took a class on Civil War quilts, and made another Betsey quilt.  With local friends, we worked on still another friendship Betsey quilt in 1991.  By then, I was hooked and have made quilts with this block in 2005, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2020.

Recently, I designed another version using Betsey's block.  Not only is it a fun block to construct, it uses small pieces of many fabrics.  This was definitely a "grab and sew" project with not much consideration as to colors and/or patterns placed next to each other, which was often the method in the 1800s because they used what fabric they had.

THE STATS: "Betsey's Story", 2022, 29"x29", Paper pieced, Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

 For this quilt I chose to center a 2" Betsey block in a court house setting.  I thought it was apropos because of Betsey's months-long struggles to get a pension approved by the government of $8 plus $2 a month for each of her, at the time, surviving 5 children.  Her husband had died while imprisoned at Andersonville during the Civil War.  She continued to struggle financially and with sadness as only three of her nine children survived to adulthood. Since 1846 and before her marriage, she had accumulated friendship blocks from friends and family storing them away.  In her later years in 1875 after several makers of the blocks were deceased, she completed her friendship quilt. I have paraphrased Betsey's story from Ms. Lipsett's book.  I highly recommend the book for the several stories she has researched and included with Betsey's.

Betsey's struggles remind me to always be grateful for the time and place in which I am privileged to quilt!