Community Quilts: How to Organize, Design & Make a Group Quilt

In the 1970s, a number of families from towns and cities all over the country moved to a rural area of North Carolina seeking a simpler lifestyle. Feeling that quilting is "what one does" in the country, several of the newcomers got together to plan a presentation quilt for a new bride. That quilt was the beginning of an association that has lasted more than 20 years and has produced close to 50 group quilts. Although this work does include three of the group's beginners' projects, it is not primarily a pattern book but rather a gallery of community quilts that includes background information, full-color photos, and working notes as well as a practical, step-by-step method for planning, organizing, and making a group quilt. In the parlance of the era, the beauty and imagination of these quilts is simply mind-blowing. Most public libraries will want this one.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This charming book chronicles an old-fashioned, community ritual that survives in rural North Carolina: the quilting bee. Certainly there is a wealth of directions included, for organizing the sewing of a quilt, to establishing the time line, and to assembling and using the quilting frame. The authors feature two patterns easy for the beginner, accompanied by suggestions for variations that will interject imagination into the project. The gallery of more than 45 quilts is the book's centerpiece. Sentiments aside, many of the quilts are worthy of submission to a national contest, whether the quilt is crawling with cats or emblazoned with butterflies. Barbara Jacobs
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