Author: John H. Lettau
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523315482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
A drive through Shawano County Wisconsin is very colorful today because more than 300 brillant "quilt blocks," called barn quilts are on display on barns throughout the county. The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was started by Shawano writer/author Jim Leuenberger in 2010. In June 2010 Jim proposed the idea to local 4-H clubs as a possible club service project. Since then, several clubs have sponsored and painted barn quilts. And individuals have supported the project through sponsoring a quilt and/or having a quilt put on their barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so I put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. A barn quilt is made by painting a pattern on two 4' by 8' sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and then mounting them on a barn to form an eight foot square. Two coats of primer are applied to both sides of the boards and the edges. After the pattern is drawn out, Frog (painters) tape is applied. Three coats of each color are applied, with each coat being allowed to dry overnight. After the quilt is finished it is allowed to dry for at least two weeks before it is put upon a barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so why not put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. Take a tour of Shawano County and locate some of the barn quilts illustrated in books... Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book One and Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book Two. Five of my other coloring books...Geometric Designs Coloring Books One, Two, Three, Four and Five are also on Amazon. Coloring books are fun and good for stress!!
Wisconsin Barn Quilts Coloring Book Two
Author: John H. Lettau
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523315482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
A drive through Shawano County Wisconsin is very colorful today because more than 300 brillant "quilt blocks," called barn quilts are on display on barns throughout the county. The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was started by Shawano writer/author Jim Leuenberger in 2010. In June 2010 Jim proposed the idea to local 4-H clubs as a possible club service project. Since then, several clubs have sponsored and painted barn quilts. And individuals have supported the project through sponsoring a quilt and/or having a quilt put on their barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so I put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. A barn quilt is made by painting a pattern on two 4' by 8' sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and then mounting them on a barn to form an eight foot square. Two coats of primer are applied to both sides of the boards and the edges. After the pattern is drawn out, Frog (painters) tape is applied. Three coats of each color are applied, with each coat being allowed to dry overnight. After the quilt is finished it is allowed to dry for at least two weeks before it is put upon a barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so why not put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. Take a tour of Shawano County and locate some of the barn quilts illustrated in books... Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book One and Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book Two. Five of my other coloring books...Geometric Designs Coloring Books One, Two, Three, Four and Five are also on Amazon. Coloring books are fun and good for stress!!
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523315482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
A drive through Shawano County Wisconsin is very colorful today because more than 300 brillant "quilt blocks," called barn quilts are on display on barns throughout the county. The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was started by Shawano writer/author Jim Leuenberger in 2010. In June 2010 Jim proposed the idea to local 4-H clubs as a possible club service project. Since then, several clubs have sponsored and painted barn quilts. And individuals have supported the project through sponsoring a quilt and/or having a quilt put on their barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so I put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. A barn quilt is made by painting a pattern on two 4' by 8' sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and then mounting them on a barn to form an eight foot square. Two coats of primer are applied to both sides of the boards and the edges. After the pattern is drawn out, Frog (painters) tape is applied. Three coats of each color are applied, with each coat being allowed to dry overnight. After the quilt is finished it is allowed to dry for at least two weeks before it is put upon a barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so why not put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. Take a tour of Shawano County and locate some of the barn quilts illustrated in books... Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book One and Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book Two. Five of my other coloring books...Geometric Designs Coloring Books One, Two, Three, Four and Five are also on Amazon. Coloring books are fun and good for stress!!
Wisconsin Barn Quilts Coloring Book One
Author: Lettau
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523313020
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
A drive through Shawano County Wisconsin is very colorful today because more than 300 brillant "quilt blocks," called barn quilts are on display on barns throughout the county. The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was started by Shawano writer/author Jim Leuenberger in 2010. In June 2010 Jim proposed the idea to local 4-H clubs as a possible club service project. Since then, several clubs have sponsored and painted barn quilts. And individuals have supported the project through sponsoring a quilt and/or having a quilt put on their barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so I put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. A barn quilt is made by painting a pattern on two 4' by 8' sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and then mounting them on a barn to form an eight foot square. Two coats of primer are applied to both sides of the boards and the edges. After the pattern is drawn out, Frog (painters) tape is applied. Three coats of each color are applied, with each coat being allowed to dry overnight. After the quilt is finished it is allowed to dry for at least two weeks before it is put upon a barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so why not put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. Take a tour of Shawano County and locate some of the barn quilts illustrated in books... Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book One and Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book Two. Five of my other coloring books...Geometric Designs Coloring Books One, Two, Three, Four and Five are also on Amazon. Coloring books are fun and good for stress!!
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781523313020
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
A drive through Shawano County Wisconsin is very colorful today because more than 300 brillant "quilt blocks," called barn quilts are on display on barns throughout the county. The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was started by Shawano writer/author Jim Leuenberger in 2010. In June 2010 Jim proposed the idea to local 4-H clubs as a possible club service project. Since then, several clubs have sponsored and painted barn quilts. And individuals have supported the project through sponsoring a quilt and/or having a quilt put on their barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so I put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. A barn quilt is made by painting a pattern on two 4' by 8' sheets of 3/4 inch plywood and then mounting them on a barn to form an eight foot square. Two coats of primer are applied to both sides of the boards and the edges. After the pattern is drawn out, Frog (painters) tape is applied. Three coats of each color are applied, with each coat being allowed to dry overnight. After the quilt is finished it is allowed to dry for at least two weeks before it is put upon a barn. Shawano County now calls the county the Barn Quilt Capital of Wisconsin, for good reason. I became interested in the project after seeing a barn quilt on my brother's barn and also because my grandfather settled in the area near Norrie, Wisconsin in 1892. I have always been interested in art so why not put together two coloring books featuring barn quilts in Shawano County. Take a tour of Shawano County and locate some of the barn quilts illustrated in books... Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book One and Wisconsin Barn Quilts Book Two. Five of my other coloring books...Geometric Designs Coloring Books One, Two, Three, Four and Five are also on Amazon. Coloring books are fun and good for stress!!
American Folk Art Quilts
Author: Maggi McCormick Gordon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510756698
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Beautiful Quilts! Beautiful antique quilts and a workbook of patterns come together in this lavish photography book for quilters. The more than 30 featured quilts from the Wisconsin State Historical Society collection are displayed in period rooms at Old World Wisconsin, the Society's outdoor museum of German and Scandinavian farmhouses. Patterns and block layouts are provided for replicating each of the original quilts, and after seeing each of them in a true historical context, home sewers will be inspired to create their own versions.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510756698
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Beautiful Quilts! Beautiful antique quilts and a workbook of patterns come together in this lavish photography book for quilters. The more than 30 featured quilts from the Wisconsin State Historical Society collection are displayed in period rooms at Old World Wisconsin, the Society's outdoor museum of German and Scandinavian farmhouses. Patterns and block layouts are provided for replicating each of the original quilts, and after seeing each of them in a true historical context, home sewers will be inspired to create their own versions.
Barn Quilts
Author: Marian Parsons
Publisher: Majestic Expressions
ISBN: 9781424553976
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Relax. Refresh. Renew. Life is full of demands. Appointments, deadlines, obligations, and constant digital chatter occupy every moment and build a mountain of unhealthy stress and tension. Research shows that coloring can be an effective stress reducer, but true rest and peace are found in God. Inspirational adult coloring books by Majestic Expressions incorporate these two ideas in one beautifully illustrated book. Inspired by the Barn Quilt popularity and many Barn Quilt Trails surfacing around the US, this coloring book features barn quilt patterns and pictures for you to color. It also includes Scriptures about the beauty of the earth, bounty, harvest, hard work, early morning, and creation. Color your own barn quilt and watch each picture come alive as you allow your creativity to flow freely, filling the intricate images with the beauty of color. SPECIAL FEATURES: - 55 inspiring illustrations - encouraging Scriptures - high quality, acid-free coloring paper
Publisher: Majestic Expressions
ISBN: 9781424553976
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Relax. Refresh. Renew. Life is full of demands. Appointments, deadlines, obligations, and constant digital chatter occupy every moment and build a mountain of unhealthy stress and tension. Research shows that coloring can be an effective stress reducer, but true rest and peace are found in God. Inspirational adult coloring books by Majestic Expressions incorporate these two ideas in one beautifully illustrated book. Inspired by the Barn Quilt popularity and many Barn Quilt Trails surfacing around the US, this coloring book features barn quilt patterns and pictures for you to color. It also includes Scriptures about the beauty of the earth, bounty, harvest, hard work, early morning, and creation. Color your own barn quilt and watch each picture come alive as you allow your creativity to flow freely, filling the intricate images with the beauty of color. SPECIAL FEATURES: - 55 inspiring illustrations - encouraging Scriptures - high quality, acid-free coloring paper
Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement
Author: Suzi Parron
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0804040494
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 245
Book Description
The story of the American Quilt Trail, featuring the colorful patterns of quilt squares painted large on barns throughout North America, is the story of one of the fastest-growing grassroots public arts movements in the United States and Canada. In Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement Suzi Parron takes us to twenty-five states as well as Canada to visit the people and places that have put this movement on America’s tourist and folk art map. Through dozens of interviews with barn quilt artists, committee members, and barn owners, Parron documents a journey that began in 2001 with the founder of the movement, Donna Sue Groves. Groves’s desire to honor her mother with a quilt square painted on their barn became a group effort that eventually grew into a county-wide project. Today, quilt squares form a long imaginary clothesline, appearing on more than three thousand barns scattered along one hundred and twenty driving trails. With more than eighty full-color photographs, Parron documents here a movement that combines rural economic development with an American folk art phenomenon.
Publisher: Ohio University Press
ISBN: 0804040494
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 245
Book Description
The story of the American Quilt Trail, featuring the colorful patterns of quilt squares painted large on barns throughout North America, is the story of one of the fastest-growing grassroots public arts movements in the United States and Canada. In Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement Suzi Parron takes us to twenty-five states as well as Canada to visit the people and places that have put this movement on America’s tourist and folk art map. Through dozens of interviews with barn quilt artists, committee members, and barn owners, Parron documents a journey that began in 2001 with the founder of the movement, Donna Sue Groves. Groves’s desire to honor her mother with a quilt square painted on their barn became a group effort that eventually grew into a county-wide project. Today, quilt squares form a long imaginary clothesline, appearing on more than three thousand barns scattered along one hundred and twenty driving trails. With more than eighty full-color photographs, Parron documents here a movement that combines rural economic development with an American folk art phenomenon.
Creative Haven Trees of Life Coloring Book
Author: Cari Buziak
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486818594
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 37
Book Description
Richly detailed illustrations incorporate historical and cultural motifs from around the world. Thirty-one designs include examples of Celtic, Islamic, Japanese, Egyptian art plus patterns inspired by Art Nouveau, Art Deco, other trends.
Publisher: Courier Dover Publications
ISBN: 0486818594
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 37
Book Description
Richly detailed illustrations incorporate historical and cultural motifs from around the world. Thirty-one designs include examples of Celtic, Islamic, Japanese, Egyptian art plus patterns inspired by Art Nouveau, Art Deco, other trends.
Quilt Stories
Author: Bobbie Ann Mason
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143667
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 367
Book Description
Literary works honoring the role of women and quilting in history—from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, and others. This collection of stories, plays, poems, and songs featuring the making of quilts—written from 1845 to the present, mainly by American women—documents women’s literary history. Featuring the work of Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, and many others, Quilt Stories is a colorful literary album of stories, poems, and plays that celebrate quilting as a pattern in women’s history. These stories—grouped under the themes of memory, courtship, struggle, mystery, and wisdom—reflect the importance of quilting in the lives of American women, not only as a practical craft and a creative outlet, but also as an integral part of the social community. “The 28 works included in Quilt Stories restore to women a part of their history and their sense of community, an important service in a present time in which quilting has perhaps become a more private and individual art, though it still serves widely as a medium for social exchange and cooperative endeavor.” —Appalachian Quarterly “Macheski has pieced together a variety of literary fabrics into a unique design which represents women’s struggle for identity in a masculine world.” —Benton, Arkansas Courier “Each writing shares a glimpse of what quilting means to those people who practice the art and how it helps us to see, remember, learn, know and express our feelings.” —Quilt World “An innovative approach to writing the history of women.” —Northwest Ohio Quarterly
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813143667
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 367
Book Description
Literary works honoring the role of women and quilting in history—from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, and others. This collection of stories, plays, poems, and songs featuring the making of quilts—written from 1845 to the present, mainly by American women—documents women’s literary history. Featuring the work of Bobbie Ann Mason, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Sharyn McCrumb, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Marge Piercy, Adrienne Rich, and many others, Quilt Stories is a colorful literary album of stories, poems, and plays that celebrate quilting as a pattern in women’s history. These stories—grouped under the themes of memory, courtship, struggle, mystery, and wisdom—reflect the importance of quilting in the lives of American women, not only as a practical craft and a creative outlet, but also as an integral part of the social community. “The 28 works included in Quilt Stories restore to women a part of their history and their sense of community, an important service in a present time in which quilting has perhaps become a more private and individual art, though it still serves widely as a medium for social exchange and cooperative endeavor.” —Appalachian Quarterly “Macheski has pieced together a variety of literary fabrics into a unique design which represents women’s struggle for identity in a masculine world.” —Benton, Arkansas Courier “Each writing shares a glimpse of what quilting means to those people who practice the art and how it helps us to see, remember, learn, know and express our feelings.” —Quilt World “An innovative approach to writing the history of women.” —Northwest Ohio Quarterly
Lovely Landscape Quilts
Author: Cathy Geier
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 144023843X
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Create beautiful landscape quilts using strips and scraps with these 15 lovely projects! In Lovely Landscape Quilts, Cathy Geier walks you through the process of creating amazing landscape quilts using simple techniques that anyone can try. Learn how to find inspiration and choose you fabrics, how to design and lay out your quilt, and how to use angles to create skies, water, hills and mountains. Learn tricks for embellishing your quilts with applique, marker and fabric to create shadows and highlights that will give your landscape quilts depth and perspective. Finally, learn the tips for finishing and quilting before trying any of the 15 beautiful projects designed by Cathy.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 144023843X
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 129
Book Description
Create beautiful landscape quilts using strips and scraps with these 15 lovely projects! In Lovely Landscape Quilts, Cathy Geier walks you through the process of creating amazing landscape quilts using simple techniques that anyone can try. Learn how to find inspiration and choose you fabrics, how to design and lay out your quilt, and how to use angles to create skies, water, hills and mountains. Learn tricks for embellishing your quilts with applique, marker and fabric to create shadows and highlights that will give your landscape quilts depth and perspective. Finally, learn the tips for finishing and quilting before trying any of the 15 beautiful projects designed by Cathy.
Cultural Fusion Quilts
Author: Sujata Shah
Publisher: C&T Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1607056747
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
For crafters “looking for patterns based on ethnic designs, modern quilters who love blocks with asymmetry and anyone who loves bright, exciting quilts!” (Sleeping Dog Quilts) Bold, vibrant, striking—and amazingly easy to make! This collection of 15 modern quilts draws on handmade crafts from India, the American South, and Africa to create a style that’s at once traditional and contemporary, artistic and practical. A simple stack, cut, shuffle, and stitch technique makes the sewing fun for quilters of any level, and also makes every quilt a one-of-a-kind creation. No two are ever alike! The author provides alternate settings, plus an inspiring photo gallery of the crafts that shaped her style. Use these projects to enrich your quilting by bringing in textures, patterns, and colors from around the world. “An inspired designer . . . The 15 free form block projects featured in this book are a celebration of this ‘melting pot,’ and brim with ideas. The book is accompanied, refreshingly, with photographs illustrating some of the inspirations and stories behind the projects, and it’s a pleasure to see how Sujata has translated them into works of quilted excellence.” —Popular Patchwork “A graphic designer and quilter, she finds inspiration all over the world—in the quilts from Gee’s Bend, the Indian godharis and the bold, colorful fabrics from Africa . . . A colorful and inspiring book. Highly recommended!” —Down Under Quilts Magazine “Sujata Shah takes a different look at traditional blocks and adds her interpretation with 15 simple and fun free-form block projects.” —McCall’s Quick Quilt
Publisher: C&T Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1607056747
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
For crafters “looking for patterns based on ethnic designs, modern quilters who love blocks with asymmetry and anyone who loves bright, exciting quilts!” (Sleeping Dog Quilts) Bold, vibrant, striking—and amazingly easy to make! This collection of 15 modern quilts draws on handmade crafts from India, the American South, and Africa to create a style that’s at once traditional and contemporary, artistic and practical. A simple stack, cut, shuffle, and stitch technique makes the sewing fun for quilters of any level, and also makes every quilt a one-of-a-kind creation. No two are ever alike! The author provides alternate settings, plus an inspiring photo gallery of the crafts that shaped her style. Use these projects to enrich your quilting by bringing in textures, patterns, and colors from around the world. “An inspired designer . . . The 15 free form block projects featured in this book are a celebration of this ‘melting pot,’ and brim with ideas. The book is accompanied, refreshingly, with photographs illustrating some of the inspirations and stories behind the projects, and it’s a pleasure to see how Sujata has translated them into works of quilted excellence.” —Popular Patchwork “A graphic designer and quilter, she finds inspiration all over the world—in the quilts from Gee’s Bend, the Indian godharis and the bold, colorful fabrics from Africa . . . A colorful and inspiring book. Highly recommended!” —Down Under Quilts Magazine “Sujata Shah takes a different look at traditional blocks and adds her interpretation with 15 simple and fun free-form block projects.” —McCall’s Quick Quilt
The Lost Quilter
Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439158541
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm. Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor. Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized. Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most. The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439158541
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson treasures an antique quilt called by three names -- Birds in the Air, after its pattern; the Runaway Quilt, after the woman who sewed it; and the Elm Creek Quilt, after the place to which its maker longed to return. That quilter was Joanna, a fugitive slave who traveled by the Underground Railroad to reach safe haven in 1859 at Elm Creek Farm. Though Joanna's freedom proved short-lived -- she was forcibly returned by slave catchers to Josiah Chester's plantation in Virginia -- she left the Bergstrom family a most precious gift, her son. Hans and Anneke Bergstrom, along with maiden aunt Gerda, raised the boy as their own, and the secret of his identity died with their generation. Now it falls to Sylvia -- drawing upon Gerda's diary and Joanna's quilt -- to connect Joanna's past to present-day Elm Creek Manor. Just as Joanna could not have foreseen that, generations later, her quilt would become the subject of so much speculation and wonder, Sylvia and her friends never could have imagined the events Joanna witnessed in her lifetime. Punished for her escape by being sold off to her master's brother in Edisto Island, South Carolina, Joanna grieves over the loss of her son and resolves to run again, to reunite with him someday in the free North. Farther south than she has ever been, she nevertheless finds allies, friends, and even love in the slave quarter of Oak Grove, a cotton plantation where her skill with needle and thread soon becomes highly prized. Through hardship and deprivation, Joanna dreams of freedom and returning to Elm Creek Farm. Determined to remember each landmark on the route north, Joanna pieces a quilt of scraps left over from the household sewing, concealing clues within the meticulous stitches. Later, in service as a seamstress to the new bride of a Confederate officer, Joanna moves on to Charleston, where secrets she keeps will affect the fate of a nation, and her abilities and courage enable her to aid the country and the people she loves most. The knowledge that scraps can be pieced and sewn into simple lines -- beautiful both in and of themselves and also for what they represent and what they can accomplish -- carries Joanna through dark days. Sustaining herself and her family through ingenuity and art during the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Joanna leaves behind a remarkable artistic legacy that, at last, allows Sylvia to discover the fate of the long-lost quilter.