I love books, and I love quilts.
And I think that every quilt tells a particular story
about the maker and the owner and the time when it was created,
with the pattern that was chosen, with each stitch,
with each piece of fabric…
So I think it's only natural to show some story-telling quilts in a book!
So here is a compilation of short stories (it's not a novel or a coherent narrative of any longer kind, maybe that's something for later, I could do a garden-book with seasonal floral patterns some time for example, or with several blocks showing antique toys, playing together...so many possibilities...I like that idea!) -
but the five quilt-pages and the two cover-quilts connected here are each telling something about the cultural backgrounds they come from (Amish, African American, Modern European, Japanese, Anglo-American), they suggest and reveal something with their titles (Interwoven, Amish Diamond, Round Robin, Bars, Log Cabin Variation… the titles are written on the back of each quilt-page) and with their colors and the way they feel when the book is held in hands.
And most of all, they share the message of something warm, handmade, joyful.
The pages each show a square of 21cm (8,2"), the batting is strong cotton fleece to give some consistency to the book. This way it can stand freely on a shelf. Added to the squares is a button border with three button holes. Six buttons, pairwise connected with an elastic cord, hold the pages together and form the spine of the book.
On the front cover I put a small (reverse) Hay(na)ku-poem:
Step by step
It's all
Patchwork
The back cover is a Zokin, done Japanese style.
I found out about Zokins (roughly woven cotton-and linen-pieces which are sewn together and quilted Sashiko-style) while reading a nice article in the magazine "Patchwork Professional"01/2015, I do like that magazine a great deal, it provides a wonderful variety of information and inspiration.
