I have heard of quite a few people who are doing this BOM and can’t wait to see the results. Some people are doing quilt as you go, some are bordering their blocks, some are making more than one version (like me!) and some are repeating favourite blocks. Her are this month’s blocks and another layout possibility.
The Martha Washington block is a traditional one, named after the US president George Washington’s wife. Martha was a quilter, and at least two of her quilts survive in American museums, although neither of them feature this block, which was published in 1926. Martha grew up on a tobacco plantation in Virginia and brought 80 slaves to her marriage with George in 1756. Some of these slaves accompanied her when George became president and the couple moved to Philadelphia, the then capital. The law in Virginia was that any slaves brought to the city could claim freedom after six months. The Washington’s rotated their slaves at five monthly intervals to avoid this. An incident which we find shocking is the fact that she gave a slave, Oney Judge, to her granddaughter as a wedding present in 1796. Oney didn’t want to go back to Virginia, and actually refused to go, much to Martha’s annoyance, and ran away! Like the rest of us, historical figures are a product of their times.
