Thank-you to our wonderful quilters! Your enthusiasm for this project has come shining through. We are very excited to go forward with our fund-raising quilt project in support of the FGS (Federation of Genealogical Societies) 1812 Preserve the Pensions.
The FGS 1812 Preserve the Pensions digitization project is a joint effort of FGS, the National Archives and Footnote.com. FGS is raising $3.7 million dollars to make these images available online for free. Genea-Quilters can help by contributing to the FGS fund-raising efforts.
Squares and digital photos are DUE NO LATER THAN 30 October 2011.
1. FABRIC: Your fabric choices are to come from any combination of fabrics in the FAT QUARTER CAROLINA QUILT FABRIC MEDLEY available through Keepsake Quilting, illustrated and linked below. A few fat quarter kits would be available at the 2011 FGS Booth in Springfield from DearMYRTLE by pre-arrangement. Just send me an email request.
It is not necessary to purchase the entire medley kit. Individual fabrics are shown below.
Stripe Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835C/medley/2835.htm
Berries Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835D/medley/2835.htm
(This is also our sashing fabric)
Tossed Tiny Flower - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835E/medley/2835.htm
Buds Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835F/medley/2835.htm
Tossed Leaf Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835G/medley/2835.htm
Tossed Tiny Bouquet - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835H/medley/2835.htm
Stripe Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835J/medley/2835.htm
Paisley Carolina Fabric - http://www.keepsakequilting.com/productdetail/2835K/medley/2835.htm
2. SIZE. Each square is to be 8 inches square (8-1/2" if you include the 1/4" seam allowance all around), no other dimensions will be accepted.
3. PATTERN. The pattern for a square may be of each quilter's choice, though we are looking for old-timey patterns that would have been used during the 1812-1900 time period when most War of 1812 servicemen and pensioners' wives and mothers would have been making quilts.
4. DISQUALIFICATIONS. Squares with glitter, sparkles or shiny finish, machine embroidery or any fabric not part of the above referenced collection will be disallowed, in order to maintain the old-timey feel of the quilt.
5. PHOTO OF QUILTER AND QUILT BLOCK. For a block to be added to the quilt, it must be submitted with a .jpg or .png photo of the quilter holding the square and a story about an ancestor who lived in America during the 1812-1900 time period. The ancestor need not have received an 1812 pension, but clearly all residents of the US, regardless of citizenship, benefited from the outcome of the war. Stories and photos in electronic format are required. Send digital images to tglatz@gmail.com
6. TIMELINE.
- 30 Oct 2011 - Saturday - SQUARES DUE at the office of Gena Philibert Ortega . Contact her directly for her snail mail address.
- November 2011 - Sashing completed.
- January 2012 - Quilt long-armed.
- January 2012 - Binding completed, book completed.
- Quilt On Display 2-4 February 2012 - RootsTech Conference, Salt Lake City - display quilt at FGS booth
- Quilt On Display 9-12 May 2012 - NGS 2012 Family History Conference, Cincinnati, Ohio - display quilt at FGS booth
- Quilt On Display 29 August - 1 Sept 2012 FGS Conference, Birmingham, Alabama - where quilt will be officially donated to the cause.
BACKGROUND ON THE PENSION PRESERVATION PROJECT
The FGS 1812 Preserve the Pensions digitization project is a joint effort of FGS, the National Archives and Footnote.com. FGS is raising $3.7 million dollars to make these images available online for free. Genea-Quilters can help by contributing to the FGS fundraising efforts.
This series consists of approximately 180,000 pension and bounty land warrant application files relating to claims based on service between 1812 and 1815. The files generally contain documentation submitted in support of a claim, such as the original application form, affidavits, and statements from witnesses.
The documents in this collection include full pension application files for soldiers and sailors who served in the War of 1812, as well as for their widows and children, or other heirs. The first applications were filed by servicemen who were disabled as a result of their service, or by widows who lost a husband in the war.
The descriptive pamphlet for the Index to War of 1812 Pension Application Files, M313, published by NARA, http://www.footnote.com/pdf/M313.pdf provides a great deal of background and explanatory information about the pension files and the acts that provided for them.
See also: http://fgs.org/1812
Let's get quilting! This is going to be a FUN way to honor our ancestors and commemorate the War of 1812 and the role it played in defining these United States.
