Scalloped border

I have been working on the border for my German Heritage Album. The red fabric is the large print that I used for the lyre shape broderie perse floral wreath around the sailing ship.
Happy Quilting!

Alamo block for German Heritage Album

The Alamo is the last block for my German Heritage Album quilt. The rich history of Texas and San Antonio are a big part of my heritage. My mother grew up in San Antonio and all our vacations to visit my grandparents and great grandmother, aunts and cousins were centered around the historical Alamo and the Mission Trail. The Witte Museum, Breckenridge Park, The Japanese Tea Garden and The San Antonio Zoo are very fond memories. I did not know as a child that the day trips to New Braunfels took us to where Dietrich Knibbe brought his family in 1845. My Grandfather's Mexican heritage caused my grandmother to lose her citizenship when they married and it was very many years later in her life before she was able to regain it. True love for Louis Sotomayor and Ophie Gerfers was worth all the changes in her life. They had 5 children.
 The Yellow Rose of Texas always makes me think of my Mother now almost 91 years old. I will be adding Bluebonnets too! Her older sister age 95 still resides with family in San Antonio.

Sailing Ship "Brig Georg Dillus" with broderie perse floral swag. I used a script background for the focal block.

 

These blocks share information about the German Aldelsverein Society led by Prince Solms-Braunfels who purchased land in Texas for a New Germany to escape the hardships of Germany in the early 1840's. The Ship's name and Captains name and my great great great grandfather are on actual Ship's List and recorded here. The maps are Germany noting the Port of Bremen Germany and Texas as it was in 1845. The hardships of the voyage left my GGG grandfather a widower with a baby and due to running aground on a sandbar in Galveston Bay all heavy equipment and furniture brought to Texas had to be thrown overboard in order to continue to the Port of Indianola. No one met this ship and it's passengers, no supplies or lodging, the sorrowful Germans built huts of mud for protection from the elements and then faced the long journey to New Braunfels on foot.

The background fabric is a soft documentary Toile.

From Bremen, Germany in 1845 my ancestors have been revisited as I have used geneaology to create my own "Baltimore" aka German Heritage Album quilt. Every needleturn stitch has drawn me closer to my family history.

Wishing You A "Heritage Album Quilt" Journey

My Baltimore Album has transformed itself into --------------------

"Adelsverein"

German  ~ Texas Heritage Album Quilt

This post is lengthy but hope it will be an inspiration to delve into your heritage when working on a Baltimore Album quilt.
While working on the BA blocks I chose to personalize the sailing ship with German flags. Knowing the name "Brig Georg Dillus" as the ship of my German ancestors I have 4 added history blocks with information from the Knibbe family's voyage to America during the German Texas Emigrant Co.'s
promise of freedom and land of plenty in Texas. Prince Karl Solms-Braunfels came to Texas to purchase land for immigrating Germans. He purchased land and named the town New Braunfels after his homeland of Braunfels in Germany. While researching Indianola, Texas where the ship landed, the drawing of the sailing ship looked very much like the ship I was working on from Elly Sienkiewicz's book - Beloved Baltimore Album Quilts.
So I have used the research of genealogy records to record where the Brig Georg Dillus sailed from, Bremen Germany in Sept 1845 and arrived in Galveston December 1845 with 133 passengers. Galveston was the port of record on the ships passengers list. The Knibbe geneaology states that the ship ran aground on a sand barge near Galveston. In order to return to sailing they had to throw all their farm equipment and furniture overboard and eventually landed in Indianola, Texas with only the clothes they had on their backs. Dietrich Knibbe's wife Sophie died  on the voyage and was buried at sea. He had a infant baby girl who survived the voyage he remarried a lady who had lost her husband in a cholera epidemic in Indianola, Texas. They had several more children. Thus began the six generations Knibbe-Knibbe-Gerfers-Sotomayor-Kirk-Pollock family.
Wishing you an album quilt journey!

Colleen