A touch of Quilt History

On Monday my guild had a guest speaker, Nancy Trowbridge. She is a judge with the CQA( Canadian Quilters' Assoication), she had a quilt store in Essex county.  Nancy discussed the Underground Railway and how quilts and quilt blocks may have played a role in the slaves’ trek to freedom in Canada.

Nancy on the right and me 

What a wonderful speaker, she held everyone's attention throughout her talk. The quilt pictured above is one she made with the blocks and there significance to the slaves journey. I like history and this was all about history. She referred to a book written by Jacqueline Tobin called Hidden in Plain View.

I'm on the lookout for this book to read our unfortunately my local library doesn't have a copy

Sorry about the quality of the photos, someone may have forgotten their camera. All this has gotten me to thinking more about the history of quilting. Julie of Pink Doxies is into the history of fabric and quilts, she and I have been discussing the subject of quilt history.

log cabin block in civil war fabrics made in EQ7 

One block is the log cabin block. In the British Isles, it is often called "Canadian Logwork".Did the block originate in Europe and travel to the new world 'Canada' and then the US?
I am a second generation Canadian with European grandparents, neither of my grandmothers quilted that I know of. My paternal grandmother was from Finland she had a treadle sewing machine, that I used when at her house, but sadly no quilts. Julie sent me this link to read.  How fascinating! There is also a good article on the Emporia State University site called the 'History of Quilting'.

Do you like to the history of quilting?