From a small paper in Illinois comes this article about a local woman, Brenda Alward, who has been busy making an Abraham Lincoln quilt. This quilt will be raffled in order to raise money for a statue of Abraham Lincoln which will be erected in Shelby County, Illinois at the county courthouse. Lincoln used to stay in Shelbyville, the county seat of Shelby County, when he rode the law circuit. The statue will depict a beardless Lincoln and one of his fellow lawyers, Anthony Thornton. In 1856, Lincoln and Thornton held a slavery debate at the courthouse.
You have to admire this woman. She worked on the quilt since early July of this year and finally finished it in October. It obviously required a lot of work and dedication to make this quilt, which will help her community to honor its connection to Lincoln. She included Lincoln silhouettes, a depiction of the tavern Lincoln stayed at, and even a Great Seal of The United States in her quilt.
The quilt looks beautiful. Somehow, I can't imagine that any of our more recent presidents will ever be honored in such a manner 150 years from now. All in all, this isn't a particularly important Lincoln-related story, but it's the kind of story which shows the general fascination people still have for our 16th president.
2 comments:
Hello to all. I am the maker of the quilt that is to be raffled for the benefit of the Shelby County, Illinois Lincoln statue. It was a massive labor of love, and I am still amazed I had the ability and perserverance to pull it off. Our group, Shelby County Lincoln Heritage, Inc. is a non-profit group whose sole purpose is to see to it that statues of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Anthony Thornton are created and erected, hopefully in time for the 200th anniversary of Mr. Lincoln's birth, on February 12, 2009. We have Mr. Lincoln bought and paid for and that statue will be delivered in a few days, but we will not install it until we get Mr. Thornton created and paid for. We are still approximately $40,000 away from achieving this goal, but we will get there. The county is a small, rural county, with many at or below poverty level, but there are also many dedicated citizens that believe in preserving history and are hard-working, industrious volunteers. I appreciate my quilt being in the spotlight.
Hello Ms. Alward. I'm the "blogmaster" of The Abraham Lincoln Blog. I just want to tell you personally how beautiful the quilt is. I'd give anything to be the proud owner of it! I admire your dedication, hard work, and craftmanship. Congratulations on raising enough for the Lincoln statue and I wish you well.
I'd love to see a photo of the statue(s) some time. If you are interested in sending a photo, you may reach me directly at "scgeoff@gmail.com."
Thank you again! Well done!
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