Just a Quilt?--Quilting in Children's Literature

 Quilts can offer many things. In this book, the quilt offers an outlet for imagination.

Keys, Dalen. Just a Quilt? Illustrated by Kim Sponaugle. Fruitbearer, 2008. ISBN: 978-1886068-34-6

 

This very simple book tells the story of Chase (based on the author's son). As he gets ready for an overnight visit to his grandma, he and his mother have a conversation about the quilt he has packed to take with him.

Chase goes on to tell his mom what his quilt really is: a busy airport; a deep, dark cave; a safari tent; and more. Each illustration shows Chase using his quilt in a different way. In the end, his mom agrees that he should get

The brightly colored illustrations by Kim Sponaugle fit the tone of this book. The meanings of some of the more difficult words like "explorer" or "safari" are made clear through the illustrations.

The reading age for this book is listed as 4-8 years, though a younger child would enjoy the story as a read-aloud.

The author's wife is a quilter, and the pattern for Chase's Quilt is available HERE.

Happy Quilting! 😺

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them.

Quilted Poetry--Quilting in Children's Literature

The Seldom-Ever-Shady Glades by Sue Van Wassenhove is a book of poetry illustrated with quilts.

 

Wassenhove, Sue Van. The Seldom-Ever-Shady Glades. Wordsong, 2008. ISBN: 978-1-59078-352-8

 

This book of seventeen poems focuses on wildlife (especially birds) in the Florida everglades. The poems are short and a few spreads contain extra information about the subject of the poem. For instance, the poem "The Heron Blues":

 

The great blue is tall

and the little is small.

But the little is blue,

and the great ain't, that's true.

    Would you choose

    the same names?

Beneath  the poem is a short explanation: "The little blue heron is nearly all blue, including its beak.

The great blue heron is mostly gray."

The poems are informative and fun-to-read, but for me, the illustrations are key. Van Wassenhove made quilts depicting the subjects to accompany her poetry. You can read and learn more about her process on her website. The quilts use piecing, applique, and quilting to show the subjects. The borders are based on traditional Seminole patterns still used by Native Americans of the Miccosukee tribe in south Florida. You can learn more about this type of patchwork HERE.

Illustration accompanying the poem "Standoff"

Back cover illustration

 

This is a lovely book--wildlife, poetry, and quilts. What more could you want?

 

Happy Quilting! 😺 

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them.

 

Stitchin' and Pullin': A Gee's Bend Quilt--Quilting in Children's Literature

 History and Heritage are important elements of quilting in Children's Literature.

McKissack, Patricia C. Stitchin' and Pullin'; A Gee's Bend Quilt. Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. Random, 2008.

This book follows Baby Girl as she makes her first quilt with Mama, Grandma, and Great-Gran. The story is in verse, and covers not only Baby Girl's quilt, but also the events her family has experienced in the struggle for Civil Rights, and the history of Gee's Bend, Alabama.

One poem begins, "Mama told me, 'Cloth has a memory.'" Baby Girl learns the story behind the pieces of cloth she uses in her quilt--memories of family members and their stories--pieces of her history.

In the end, her quilt top complete, she sits at the quilting frame with the women so important to her:

. . . in a slow and steady rhythm. . .

patient hands that guide without force,

teach without punishment,

an old, old process,

women stitchin' and pullin'

together.

This beautiful book, a patchwork of poetry, is illustrated with paintings by Cozbi A. Cabrera in vibrant colors, reminiscent of the Gee's Bend quilts themselves.

USPS Stamps honoring the Gee's Bend Quilts and Quilters, 2006

The book includes an Introduction by Matt Arnett of Tinwood Alliance and an Author's Note detailing McKissack's journey through quilting and Gee's Bend while researching and writing this book.

An article in Smithsonian magazine, "The Fabric of their Lives", gives more information about the quilters of Gee's Bend, and there are several books on the subject as well. The quilters have also begun selling some of the quilts on Etsy--you can read about that HERE.

Memory, heritage, history, family, community--this book encompasses them all through the theme of quilting.

Happy Quilting! 😺

 

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them.

Mother Earth and Her Children--Quilting in Children's Literature

 Sometimes a quilt sparks a story, and sometimes a story sparks a quilt. The latter is the case with the book I feature today.

Von Olfers, Sibylle. Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale. Illustrated by Sieglinde  Schoen Smith. Translated from the original German [Etwas von den Wurzelkindern, 1906] by Jack  Zipes. Breckling, 2007.    ISBN: 978-1-933308-18-0

Cover of the German edition

The illustrator of this book was born in Germany during the Second World War. Her older sister owned the book  Etwas von der Wurzelkindern (Something About the Root Children), and Smith loved the story of the children exploring the wonders of nature and the seasons. Later in her life, now an American and a quilter, she rediscovered the book and wondered if its illustrations could be rendered in fabric and thread. Using applique and embroidery, she gave it a try.

 

Illustration from German edition

Illustration from Smith's edition

As you can see, she succeeded!

 

The book includes an Author's Note with the complete story behind the quilt. Also included is an essay about the author of the tale, Sibylle von Offers, and her writing by the translator, Jack Zipes. You can find the text and illustrations of the German edition HERE.

Quilt with Best of Show Award

The quilt won Best of Show at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2006. Other books followed: Mother Earth's ABC: A Quilted Alphabet and Story Book and two books of applique inspired by Mother Earth and her Children. I have also seen jigsaw puzzles, posters, and coloring books related to the quilt.

 

If you would like to see the book and hear it being read aloud, click HERE.

Happy quilting! 😺

 

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them

Faith Ringgold--Quilting in Children's Literature

 The books I'm highlighting today use quilts as illustration for stories and inspiration for page layouts.

 

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. Dragonfly, 1991.

Ringgold, Faith. Cassie's Word Quilt. Dragonfly, 2002.

 

 

Tar Beach and Cassie's Word Quilt are but two of Faith Ringgold's contributions to children's literature. She won the Caldecott Honor Award and the Coretta Scott King award for her story quilt illustrations in Tar Beach. Her narrative quilts are painted, pieced, and quilted.

 

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach 2. 1990. Quilt.

 

Tar Beach tells the story of Cassie and her flight of imagination and wonder as she looks up into the night sky from the roof of an apartment house. The painted illustrations in the book are based upon the story quilt and the page borders are reproductions of the actual quilt borders.

Ringgold, Faith. Cassie's Word Quilt. Title Page.

In Cassie's Word Quilt, we take what the publisher calls a "patchwork tour" of Cassie's home and neighborhood. Some of the pages are bordered with photographs of fabric borders much like those in Tar Beach. The layout of the book features both full-page paintings, and small word and painting squares, and the spreads are reminiscent of a quilt layout.

Ringgold, Faith. Cassie's Word Quilt.

Ringgold, Faith. Cassie's Word Quilt.

Ringgold has published several children's books. You can learn more about her and her art HERE.

If you would like to hear Ringgold read Tar Beach, a video can be found HERE.

 

Happy Quilting! 😺

 

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them

 

Leaders and Enders for Donation Quilts

 I'm chain piecing miles and miles of  Leader and Ender (L & E) blocks for donation quilts.

For the past few years, I've been using 3.5" squares for L & E. Each year, I piece them together to make simple patchwork quilts for donation.

Because these are amenable to straight-line quilting, I am able to use the white-on-white (or natural) fabrics that have the thicker paint on them. These tend to shred my thread with FMQ, but quilting with my walking foot works well. Each year, I gather the blocks and assemble the quilts--it's fun to see the different fabrics that I have worked with during the past year.

I have found that working with consistent squares as L & Es is less confusing for me than trying to use parts for a more complicated quilt. The first couple of years that I did this, I used two-rail fence blocks (even or uneven rails), but the stairstep quilting I usually did with those was quite tedious (stitch, turn 90 degrees, stitch, turn 90 degrees, etc.).

I love using L & E--in fact, I feel guilty now when I use my machine's thread cutter because I feel like I should have another block to go under the needle! I also like the idea that I am creating donations for those in need every time I sit down to sew.

Happy Quilting! 😸

A Trip to the Islands--Quilting in Children's Literature

The two children's books I'd like to highlight today are both set in the Hawai'ian Islands: Luka's Quilt by Georgia Guback and The Tsunami Quilt: Grandfather's Story by Anthony D. Fredericks. 

Luka's Quilt is a story about a girl and her grandmother making a flower garden quilt together. Tutu (grandmother) makes a traditional Hawai'ian quilt with only two colors, and Luka is disappointed that the quilt doesn't have the many colors of her own flower garden. In the end, Luka and Tutu find a way to bring together tradition and innovation in a lovely compromise.

This book explores the idea of tradition and its evolution. The lovely illustrations are cut-paper collage with many details to enjoy.

If you would like to hear the book read, there is a YouTube video HERE. 

Guback, Georgia. Luka's Quilt. Greenwillow, 1994.

ISBN:  978-0688121549

 

 

 

The Tsunami Quilt:Grandfather's Story is also set in Hawai'i. It explores the relationship between a boy and his grandfather while addressing a historical event as well. After his beloved grandfather's death, Young Kimo discovers the reason for his grandfather's yearly pilgrimage to place a lei on a stone monument. 

The quilt in this book is one of remembrance of the 01 April 1946 tsunami at Laupāhoehoe Point. The quilt is housed in the Pacific Tsunami Museum in Hilo, Hawai'i. The squares around the border of the quilt contain the names of 24 students who lost their lives. Kimo finds a deeper understanding of his grandfather through this quilt.

The illustrations, painted in lovely, soft colors by Tammy Yee, are both of the present-day Kimo's story as well as the time of the devastating tsunami.

This book highlights the purpose of a quilt as a lasting memorial. The book also includes an Author's Note with more information about this historical event.

Fredericks, Anthony D. The Tsunami Quilt: Grandfather's Story. Illustrated by Tammy Yee. Thomson,     Gale: 2007.

ISBN: 978-1585363131

 

These books show two very different uses of a quilt in children's literature. In Luka's Quilt, the quilt is central to the telling of the story. In The Tsunami Quilt, the quilt is used as a vehicle for the author to inform the readers about a historical event, and it shows the quilt as a reminder, a memorial, of people affected by that event.

Thanks for reading! 📕

 

 A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them!