In love with Civil War-era quilts

Gordy Ann, owner of Thimbelina's Quilt Shop (118 N. B St., Livingston, Mont.) has a soft spot for Civil War-era quilts, patterns, fabrics and colorways. So you can be sure that whenever you stop by the shop, we'll have some beautiful projects to show off and many great fabrics you can take home for your own Civil War quilts.

We happened to find this neat blog, Civil War Quilts. The author, Barbara Brackman, shares neat bits of history she finds that go along with quilts made during the Civil War.

Her blog is a great place to find inspiration for your Civil War quilts while also learning about that unique time in American history. The photos below come from Barbara's blog.

Bust it, don't stash it

Fabric leftovers pile up, no matter your good intentions. Creating quilts from your scraps is always a great way to cut down on the piles (and gives you a good excuse to head over to Thimbelina's to replenish your stock!).

Many scrap patterns call for whole quilts of similarly hued bits and pieces. These look just lovely, but wow, do they require a lot of sorting through your stash! Especially if you don't store or organize your leftovers by color. Sometimes, going wild with random colors and patterns is the best way to bust a stash fast.

We found these fun, crazy colorful blocks made by Piecemeal Quilts on photo sharing site Flickr. Forget color wheels and rules about symmetry or combining patterns. We love that this quilter just went for it, and came up with blocks that will pull together into a fun, playful project.