New books chronicle evolution of quilt making

VISIONS: QUILT EXPRESSIONS, edited by Stevii Thompson Graves, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1998, 96 pages, $19.95.

NORTHERN COMFORT: New England’s Early Quilts 1780-1850, by Lynne Z. Bassett and Jack Larkin, Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1998, paperback, 118 pages, $19.95.

In 1833, housewife Lydia Maria Child wrote in her diary, “Patchwork is good economy … a large family may be kept out of idleness and few shillings saved, by thus saving scraps of gowns, curtains and such.”

In 1998, quilter Joan F. Austin wrote, “In this age of new technology and fast-paced life styles, quiltmaking seems to embody the gentleness that nurtures and rebuilds the human spirit. It is the voice of reason in a chaotic society. It is a metaphor for mending and making right the outside world.”

What different points of view about the same skill, quilt making!

Two recently published books clearly illustrate this changing and evolving world of quilting and its evolution from a frugal, practical way to keep a bed warm to museum-quality art.

Each book paints a vivid picture of quilting: of quilting in the past, in “Northern Comfort, New England’s Early Quilts” and the acceptance and celebration of quilts as art in “Visions: Quilt Expressions.”

In “Visions: Quilt Expressions,” the art of the quilt is brilliantly exhibited.

Anyone who has ever gently rubbed their fingers over an exquisitely crafted quilt or stands staring — mesmirized — at a supply of bold, patterned fabrics, will not be able to stop looking into the pages of “Visions.”

It is too simple to say that the book features the work of quilt artists from around the world who displayed their work at the 1998 San Diego Quilt Show.

It is too dismissive to say that the photographs leap off the page.

Words like brilliant, creative, exquisite, passionate and diverse more aptly describe the 80 pieces of art represented in the book.

After taking several weeks to explore, enjoy and absorb “Visions,” master quilter and instructor Kim Barbour of Pittsfield said, “I think women have been quilting their feelings into quilts for a long time. It is nice to see it recognized.”

Each page is a vision unto itself, aptly mirroring the title of the book.

Colors so vibrant the reader can feel them leap from the page in patterns, twists and extraordinary shapes.

Every two years, Quilt San Diego’s Visions exhibition displays the works of quilt artists from around the world. Each quilt is an expression of the person who created it — from “Flow” by Erika Carter, which suggests the give-and-take approach to life, to “A Quilt for the Child I Never Had” by Jane Burch Cochran.

“Quilts were first officially hung as art in the Whitney Museum in 1971,” said Barbour. “Look how far we have come. The emotion in these quilts is amazing!”

Maine artist Jo Diggs of Portland is featured in the collection with a scenic quilt in deep blues, purples, browns, and fresh greens and golds. Her hand-painted and hand-dyed fabrics are used to play dramatic light and color against each other in “Remembered Vistas,” in an effort, Diggs states in the book, “to pay homage to the beauty of earth and sky.” Centered on multiple landscapes, the quilt draws the viewer into the view.

The book is edited by Stevii Thompson Graves, a curator of quilt exhibits and a quilt judge, and is a must for quilters who are looking for a delight for the eye and an inspiration for the heart.

In “Northern Comfort,” this historical path of quilts is charted from 1780 to 1850. The book is filled with photographs and illustrations of antique quilts, many which document New England’s history.

Quilting in the 18th and 19th centuries combined frugality and practicality with creativity. The book examines the tradition of whole-cloth quilts, patchwork and appliqued quilts, the invention of calico and its effect on quilt patterns, quilting as a social exercise and the sentimental quality of friendship quilts.

The book centers on the historic quilt collection of Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. The museum and its vast collection of everyday artifacts is a preserved working New England community.

The quilts in “Northern Comfort” tell the stories of their makers and therefore reflect the life of New England women who produced true images of their time. There are quilting patterns cut from the program of an 1831 anti-slavery meeting, and carefully pieced aprons made from scraps of family clothing.

Lucy Larcom, a quilter from the 1840s, wrote, “I liked assorting those little figured bits of cotton cloth, for they were scraps of gowns I had seen worn and they reminded me of the person who wore them. One fragment, in particular, was like a picture to me. It was a delicate pink and brown sea-moss pattern, on a white ground, a piece of a dress belonging to my married sister, who was to me bride and angel in one. I always saw her face before me when I unfolded this scrap … .”