Main Characters of Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

Home Circle Quilt Block

This month in the Quilters' Book Club, we are reading and discussing Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas.  With Charlie Bullock off to fight for the North in the Civil War, his young wife Alice and his mother are left at home together on Bramble Farm near Slatyfork, Iowa.  I found some free quilt pattern blocks online that go with the main characters of Alice Keeler Bullock and Mother Bullock.     

Alice Keeler Bullock:
Contrary Wife Quilt Block
Housewife Quilt Block
Lover's Knot Quilt Block

Contrary Wife Quilt Block

Mother Bullock:
Mother's Dream Quilt Block
Mother's Own Quilt Block

Mother's Dream Quilt Block

Both:
Home Circle Quilt Block

While this book is about women who are left behind during war, it is also about the relationship of a young bride with her mother-in-law.  What advice would you give to brides and mothers-in-law about this relationship?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Please answer in the comment section below. 

Remember that if you're reading this post via email, you must click on the title of the post to get through to my blog to be able to comment and to read the comments of others.  By commenting, you are also entering your name in a giveaway for Jennifer Chiaverini's latest book, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker.  Winner will be announced June 1. 

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.

Alice's Cunning Housewife for Charlie and My Very Own Housewife

The Inside of My Housewife with Stork Scissors Attached

In Alice's Tulips, Alice Keeler Bullock writes in a letter to her sister Lizzie, "I used leftover scraps to make Charlie a cunning housewife that is brown with blue pockets, bound in red twill, and it rolls up nice and fastens with hooks and red strings.  Inside, the housewife is fitted up with needles and pins and thread so Charlie can mend his uniform if he gets shot.  It's told that many soldiers go ragged because they won't sew for nothing, but Charlie sews as good as a woman.  Remember when he boarded at the McCauley farm so that he could be close to me?  The McCauley girls jollied him into learning to work a needle.  Mattie McCauley says if a woman can plow, a man ought to know how to thread a needle.  But how many do?  I ask you." from page 5, Alice's Tulips

The Outside of My Housewife

My Housewife Starting to Be Rolled Up

Completely Rolled Up and Tied

Do you have a sewing kit?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Please answer in the comments section below.  If you are reading via email, please click on the title of this blog post so you can comment and read the comments of others.

Remember that by commenting, you are entering your name in a giveaway for Jennifer Chiaverini's book, Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker.  The winner will be announced June 1.

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here.