QUILTING LIKE THE OLD FOLKS

YAY! On Columbus day (that's three days after this posts), I'm debuting a new reenacting program at the Old Manse! And it's a quilting bee. This is the quilt top we'll be quilting up:

It's medium period. I went for a basically round design in homage to the medallion quilts of the 18th century. And it is technically made of "scrap fabric" but in this case that means "polyester", because I refuse to make real clothes out of polyester. It's parts from a bunch of different sheet sets that I had in large quantities to make this very matchy pattern. I really like how it looks, with the white and the two-tone "carpenters star". Up close its pretty obvious that this is a beginners quilt, and that the fabric is widgy, and I wasn't suuper careful about cutting all the pieces exactly the same. I suspect it'll have a different effect all together when it's in the "quilt frame" for the reenacment. I hope I get it together to photograph and post about the event, it should be interesting.
I'm going to have two of my friends with me, all in 1860s clothes that I made! And we're going to hopefully talk amongst ourselves about politics, because I ascribe aggressively to the idea that a gathering of women is not only going to "gossip" (whatever that's even supposed to mean). I read that in every online summary of quilting bees that I came across: "there were no men and the women would sew all day and gossip". And just, considering the influence of women in reform movements of the 19th century, I think it isn't at all odd to think that women in women's spaces might discuss politics and society. Maybe that's what people call "gossip" nowadays, I dunno.