Civil War Hard Crackers Quilt

Hard Crackers is a quilt designed by Carol Hopkins.  The finished size is 17" X 19".  Not my ususal quilt size, the small squares finish at 2" X 2".  Was a challenge but always good to stretch yourself in your  craft.   I chose blue for the outer borders, a a dark beige for the inner border, just seemed right for the blocks.  Not all the fabrics are reproduction Civil War fabrics but for 2016 my motto is "use what you have".

"Crackers" is the historical name for this quilt block, since crackers played a role in feeding the soldiers during the Civil War.  Soldiers were given a three-day ration of six to eight crackers. These dry thick biscuits, sometimes called hardtack were baked in northern factories, packed in wooden crates and shipped to locations occupied by the troops.

By the time they reached the soldiers they were hard and bug infested, leading soldiers to refer to them as "tooth dullers" or "worm castles".  Others described them as indestructible, "too small to shoe a mule and too big to use as bullets"

For a blending effect, I used a dark beige thread for the free motion quilting. This small quilt will be donated to the Friendship Quilters fund raiser, Tulip Tea and Quilt Sale, which will be held on

 March 25, 2017.