Quilting lesson, part 8 (the end)

"February 12, 2002:  Mary came at noon to take me for my "hair-do".
February 13, 2002:  Mary came and had lunch.  I showered and then visited with her.  Went to Book Club in evening.  Herb Schuessler died suddenly today.
February 14, 2002:  Mary and Mitch and Anna came in the evening with Chinese food.  That was my Valentine present.  We played Rummikub.  Myrtle called in a.m."

I don't recall taking Chinese food on Valentine's Day but I am certainly glad I/we did. 

Quilting, already since I am drawing a blank.

Nebraska windmill -- designed by E. S. "Bud" Dunklau of Lincoln in bicentennial year -- won $100 prize in a statewide contest -- named by the Legislature as the official state quilt block.  Cathedral Window -- 50 yards of muslin.  Star of Bethlehem -- almost 4,000 pieces.

I'll conclude with my favorite "quilts in history" story.  In pre-Civil War days a sea captain, Capt. Wm. Driver lived in Salem, Mass. -- one of the kindest and most dependable -- to show their love and respect the ladies of Salem made a large flag for him.  As the flag was hoisted and unfurled, the captain -- impressed by the gift and the occasion -- shouted, "I'll call her Old Glory, boys, Old Glory!"  Back from a journey -- wife had been seriously ill -- advised to move to a milder climate -- chose Nashville, Tenn.  Very happy there -- displayed "Old Glory" often.  Then Civil War Confederate officer came to confiscate flag, etc.  Flag counted as a quilt.  Flew over the state capital at end of war.  Flag now is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

Thank you for the opportunity to ramble on about my favorite past time.  I've enjoyed this very much.

I am guessing from her shortened notes that the Confederate officer was not allowed to take the flag since it was considered a quilt.  I was sort of correct -- I looked up Capt. Driver and found this; close enough:

Captain Driver quit the sea in 1837. He settled in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had relatives living. On patriotic days he displayed Old Glory proudly from a rope extending from his house to a tree across the street. As the Civil War began, after Tennessee seceded from the Union in 1861, Driver feared that Old Glory might be confiscated or destroyed by the Confederate authorities. He hid the flag, having it sewn inside a comforter. When Union soldiers entered Nashville on February 25, 1862, Driver removed Old Glory from its hiding place. He carried the flag to the Tennessee State Capitol and raised it on the capitol flagpole. He is said to have remained on watch all that night to ensure that the flag came to no harm.

Shortly before his death, the old sea captain placed a small bundle into the arms of his daughter. He said to her, "Mary Jane, this is my ship flag, Old Glory. It has been my constant companion. I love it as a mother loves her child. Cherish it as I have cherished it." Captain Driver is buried in Nashville's historic City Cemetery, under an unusual marker of his own design—a ship's anchor leaning against a vine-covered tree. By a special act of Congress, Driver's gravesite is one of several places in the United States, including the grave of Francis Scott Key, where a flag is flown twenty four hours a day. His house, where Old Glory so often flew, no longer exists, but a historical plaque near its location on Fifth Avenue South commemorates him.

Mary Jane took the flag with her as she married and moved, first to Nevada and then to California, occasionally displaying it at or near her home. In the early 1900s, she sewed the deteriorating flag to a bedsheet in order to stabilize it.

The flag remained as a precious heirloom in the Driver family until 1922. Then it was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it is carefully preserved under glass today. It and the flag which flew over Fort McHenry during the British bombardment of 1814, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the The Star-Spangled Banner, are considered the two most historically significant flags in the country and two of the greatest treasures of the Smithsonian.

[I hope the photo I copied over from wikipedia make the transfer and is visible.]