Victory Quilts Revisited

 

Good morning!  

I recently stumbled upon an article (here) about World War 2 quilts. What surprised me about the article was a statement that said that women who quilted were often referred to as "quilt warriors"; I don't ever remember reading that before.  It is possible I forgot.  I read Sue Reich's excellent book World War II Quilts years ago.  I did a newspaper search of the phrase but didn't come up with anything.

Women during this war, did do a lot to raise money...just as they had during World War 1 and the Civil War.  Most often all these women from all these wars raised funds by auctioning quilts.

Alabama, 1942

In Nebraska, this group raised $170.

Quite often, the textiles were signature quilts; people would pay a small amount to have sign the quilts.  In Ontario, Canada, one quilt raised $565 and the maker received a thank you note from Queen Mary.

The funds went to the Red Cross and often to buy War Bonds like the one below from Indiana:

Quilt patterns were generated throughout most newspapers and the funding assisted the war effort in so many ways.  I only have one in my collection, the "V" quilt:

Although many of the quilts were auctioned, others were used at home to raise morale and honor loved ones at the front.  I think this is one of those quilts.  

Wishing you a safe and happy day!