Second Sat. Sampler - Women of faith and courage

 Block 3 -Harriet Tubman

I would guess that many of you are aware of the story of the underground railroad and the role that different quilt designs played in identifying the safe houses along the way. With that in mind, we have decided to highlight Harriet Tubman for block three of Women of Faith and Courage.

Wikipedia states:

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. March 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women's suffrage.

Born into slavery in Dorchester county, Maryland,Tubman was beaten and whipped by various enslavers as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight, intending to hit another slave, but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. After her injury, Tubman began experiencing strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, only to return to Maryland to rescue her family soon after. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other enslaved people to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger". After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide escapees farther north into Canada, and helped newly freed people find work. Tubman met John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.

When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 enslaved people. After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her, and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. She became an icon of courage and freedom.

The first time she crossed the state line into Pennsylvania she described a feeling of relief and awe. She recalled the experience years later, saying,

"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."

Harriet once said "There was one of two things I had a right to - liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other".

For this block you will need:

1) 6-inch pink print square
1) 6-inch background square
1) 2 1/2 x 30-inch background strip
1) 2 1/2 x 10-inch blue strip
1) 4 1/2 -inch brown print square
1) 4 1/2 x 22-inch red print strip

Draw two diagonal lines (an X) on the back of the 6-inch background square.  Place this with the 6-inch pink square, making sure the right sides are together and the outside edges are aligned.  Sew 1/4 inch on both sides of the drawn lines.  Cut on the lines and through the center vertically and horizontally.  Square the resulting half-square triangles to measure 2 1/2 inches. Clip the excess seams and press toward the pink.

Cut 4) 2 1/2 inch squares from the blue strip.

Cut 12) 2 1/2 inch squares from the 2 1/2 inch background strip. Draw a diagonal line on the back of eight of these squares.

Use four 2 1/2 inch background squares, a blue square and 2) half-square triangle squares to create the unit shown below. (Create 4.)

Cut 4) 4 1/2 inch squares from the red strip.

Place a 2 1/2 inch background square on a corner of a 4 1/2 inch red square making sure the right sides are together and the outside edges are aligned. The drawn line should run edge to edge of the red square.

Sew on the drawn line.  Trim 1/4 inch from the sewn line.  Repeat on another corner to create the unit shown below. (Create 4.)

Assemble the components to create the block as pictured below.

We have begun cutting finishing kits. We plan to have some available by the end of next week.  The finishing kits will be $69.95.  They will include all the fabric to finish the top as well as the binding.

Happy Sewing!