July 27,1861

Dear Wife,

“Our second day, from Bellaire to this place, was an exceedingly happy one. We traveled about 130 miles in Virginia, and with the exception of one deserted village of Secessionists, we were received everywhere with an enthusiasm I never saw anywhere before.

No such great crowds turned out to meet us as we saw from Indianapolis to Cincinnati assembled to see Lincoln, but everywhere, in the corn and hay fields, in the houses, in the roads, on the hills, wherever a human being saw us, we saw such honest spontaneous demonstrations of joy as we never beheld elsewhere. Old men and women, boys and children-some fervently prayed for us, some laughed and some cried; all did something which told the story. The secret of it is, the defeat at Washington and the departure of some thousands of three-months men of Ohio and Indiana led them to fear they were left to the Rebels of eastern Virginia.”………..

This is part of a letter written by Rutherford Hayes to his wife: Please feel free to look at the completion of this letter in the  book  The Civil War Love Letter Quilt by Rosemary Youngs……the letters are wonderful and I will share parts of these letters from time to time with a picture of a block that is suggested to be sewn with that letter from the book. It looks like a fantastic quilt from the pictures shown….since I am just joining into the Dear Jane enthusiasts with her quilt I thought it only right to guide you to the works of this Rosemary Young group…it looks like she had tons of help with the research, etc and it is with great delight to share it with you!..

Let me know how you are doing, I would love to hear…I am going to try using the squareinasquare.com  technique by Jodi Barrows on these blocks….it should end in great points that match! I LOVE her technique!  We are so blessed with so many great ideas, teachers… enthusiasm galore!!!..

..I also just found a great site at alexandersonquilts.com….she has her own pod casts now and then her webpage…Another suggestion is to get into a blog…I was able to join dearbabyjane.blogspot.com this past week and she has wonderful step by step instruction there…..  I am onboard there at   inthesewingbasket.blogspot.com….Dear Jane Keeps Kari in Pieces…well, I figured with over 5000 in the quilt it would be a hilarious process!!…..

Let me hear from you with any questions or comments!!!

Blessed!! don’t you agree?  and Quilted ….right?……..Kari