Happy Quilters

I've been invited to join a group of friends that sew together twice a month. We meet on a Tuesday afternoon/evening and a Saturday. The Saturday location is at a church that has 2 very nice rooms we can use. One room is on the 2nd floor and accommodates about 10 sewers. The other room is on the first floor and can accommodate 20! It has huge floor to ceiling windows, with light yellow walls and white trim on the windows. It is a wonderful place to sew!

I love the bags that my friends use to tote their supplies and fabric...how creative!

And of course, they are working on some fun projects:

I worked on my fall Thimbleberries project--Twin Peaks. I decided to make mine about the same size as the spring and summer project--56 inches square. My friend Pam decided to make her project half the size of the original, so she gave me her extra fabric! Aren't quilters the neatest, sharing people?

I added two borders to it this morning, and realized I have a border on wrong...groan. This is what happens when I sew when I'm not feeling well. I have come down with a bad cold, which my generous hubby had first and decided to share with me. So I'm taking a break, downloading photos, blogging, and have my seam ripper at the ready.  

Another cup of tea and I'll be ready to let 'er rip!

Keep stitchin!

Mary

Generals Wives

After this block we only have 1 more left...it's the block with the generals stars on it. This block is named after Margaret Mason Buell. In order to tell Margaret Buell's story, you have to begin with her first husband, Gen. Richard Mason, whose report of the California gold fields given to President Polk started the California gold rush! Gen. Mason's grandfather was active in the process of writing the Constitution, and he wrote the Virginia constitution and Virginia's bill of rights.

Brigadier General Richard Mason was the first military and civil governor of California. He died at Jefferson Barracks (St. Louis, Missouri) while he was the commanding officer there. The couple had three daughters. After his death, his widow, Margaret Mason, married Major General Don Carlos Buell, a veteran of the Union Army.


Gen. Don Carlos Buell was educated at West Point and served in the Mexican War and the Civil War, preparing Ohio's defenses. His leadership during the Civil War was questionable and he was forced to resign his commission on June 1 1864. Buell then moved to Kentucky, becoming president of the Green River Iron Company.In 1885 Buell received a presidential appointment as state pension agent, a position he held until 1890. Buell then married Margaret Mason of Mobile, Alabama, who had a 13-year old and 15-year old daughter. He died on November 19, 1898 in Paradise, Kentucky, and was buried in Bellefontaine cemetery in St. Louis.

Both generals, and their wife, Margaret Hunter Mason Buell, are buried on the same lot. It appears that being married between two Civil War generals appears to be Margaret Buell's claim to fame. Marking the grave of General Mason is a brown freestone memorial made in Philadelphia by John Struthers, the man who designed the marble sarcophagus in which the remains of George and Martha Washington repose at Mount Vernon.

I'm working now on sewing the blocks into rows. For some reason, I'm really anxious to see this on my 4-poster bed.

I'm distracted because I'm watching Anna Griffin on HSN scrapbook and craft day. I love her products!

till next time, keep stitchin'!
Mary

Generals Wives: Ellen Mary McClellan

One of the most interesting things about researching the wives of the Civil War Generals is being able to peek at the private correspondence between husband and wife. It is amazing to me that so many of their letters were preserved and handed down--and later published! When we write to a spouse, we sort of "let it all hang out", you know?! In the letters that Gen. George McClellan wrote to his wife, he called President Lincoln, "the original gorilla." Bet you find it hard to believe they were on the same side! (Yes, they were!)

The love story between George McClellan and Ellen Marcy is very interesting, too. She was in love with Lt. Ambrose P. Hill (eventually Gen A. P. Hill, CSA) and wanted to marry him, but her father forebad it. By the time she was 25 she had received and turned down 9 marriage proposals, and eventually she said yes to George McClellan after he persued her for years. They had a son  George--who became mayor of New York City, and a daughter May--who married a diplomat and lived most of her life in Nice, France. There were no grandchildren.

It's interesting to learn of the battles that McClellan and Hill were participants of! McClellan, of course, knew that Ellen had been in love with Hill. It looks to me like they even enjoyed the idea of battling each other.

Known as Ellen, she was the daughter of Major General Randolph Barnes & Priscilla Dunham Marcy, and was a descendant of Mayflower passenger Deacon John Dunham. After the Civil War, Gen. McClellan and his wife travelled in Europe a great deal. Gen. McClellan worked in New York and served as governor at Trenton, New Jersey.

 

The McClellan's are buried in Trenton, New Jersey. Have you heard of http://www.findagrave.com ? Boy, there's an interesting website if you've not checked that out, you should. And yes, I've found some of my relatives that way!

We're enjoying a little cooler weather here in Virginia, which I am really enjoying. I hope you're all doing well and can find some time to stitch a few seams! Till next time...

Mary