The All-Together Quilt

by Lizzy Rockwell

Quilters and crafters rejoice! This story of a community coming together to make a quilt is a heartwarming celebration of creativity and teamwork.

The kids and grown-ups at a community center begin with lots of colorful fabrics and an idea. Then step by step they make that idea a reality. They design, cut, stitch, layer, and quilt. It's the work of many hands, many hours, and many stories. And the result is something warm and wonderful they all can share.

Lizzy Rockwell is the artistic director and organizing force behind the Norwalk Community Quilt Project: Peace by Piece, and this book is inspired by all the people who have gathered over the years to teach and learn and to make something beautiful together.

Genres: Picture Books, Art, Friendship, Childrens, Nonfiction, Sewing, Realistic Fiction

40 pages, Library Binding

First published October 27, 2020

About the author

Lizzy Rockwell is an illustrator whose artwork can be seen in picture books, magazines, games and on walls. She studied art and art history at Connecticut College, and drawing and illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Lizzy is the illustrator of over 25 children's books by a variety of authors including her mother, Anne Rockwell. She is the author/illustrator of eleven books including The All-Together Quilt, Plants Feed Me, How Do You Feel?, Good Enough to Eat: A Kid's Guide to Food and Nutrition, and The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness.

Lizzy has two grown sons, and lives and works in Bridgeport, CT with her husband, Ken Alcorn, a high school social studies teacher. Lizzy likes to quilt, cook, hike, paddle, and grow things in her garden.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story!

[Donalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on the author/illustrator's experiences with Peace by Piece. Don't miss the author's note with more information about the organization and the stories behind the quilt patterns and fabric designs.

[June Jacobs · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a quilter, I was thrilled when I found this 2020 release in the children's collection of our library's catalog. The cover art is so warm and welcoming with the diverse group of children and an adult wearing smiles while spending time together working on a quilt all-together that it prompts readers to open the book and dive in.

The book tells the story based on the author/illustrator's real life, as explained in the back matter after the story. The 'Peace by Piece' quilting group, which was founded in 2008, meets two afternoons a week to work on quilts which they then hang in public places such as public libraries, community colleges, and children's museums.

This inspirational group is filled with diverse people of several different age groups who contribute their time and skills to make something meaningful together.

Throughout the story, the full-sized, detailed illustrations lead readers through the making of a quilt. Each step is highlighted in text and illustrations, from cutting the fabric, sewing the quilt blocks, assembling the quilt, making a sandwich of the quilt top/batting/backing, hand-quilting the three layers, and adding the binding.

As a bonus, the back matter includes diagrams of nine 'Classic Quilt Blocks' and information about the fabrics used to make the quilt in the book.

This is one of my favorite quilt books for children! Highly-recommended for families, classrooms, youth groups/scout groups, libraries, plus anyone who wants to learn to make a basic quilt from start to finish.

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[Shaye Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful picture book shares the store of 17 people working together to create a quilt in the community center. Each page spread shows the details process of creating the quilt from selecting the fabric to sewing on the binding around the edges. At the very back, there’s an Author’s note which explains what she’s done with a quilting group she created in her community. There’s also a page showcasing nine classic blocks people use in quilts and another page providing more details about the quilt they made in the book. Readers can visit the author’s website which includes the story behind the book and a photo gallery. It’s a wonderful little step-by-step story that can be a great introduction to beginning a quilt project. The illustrations in this book were created with watercolor, ink, and scans of fabric.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[Deborah]

This book was inspired by the Lizzy Rockwell's own experience with the Community Quilt Project that she founded. The story takes us step-by-step through the quilt making process, and the parallel process of building friendship—"Richard and Maurice work together. They trace and cut and pin and sew. Look! Two triangles together make one square. Two rectangles together make one square." And from many multi-generational pairs like Richard and Maurice, a quilt comes together.

I love the "About the Quilt" notes at the end, in which the varied history and origin of each scrap of fabric is told. Part how-to, part metaphor, this book gently illustrates how a shared goal can piece a community together.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely done.

[Lisa D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Cute book!

[Jennifer Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations, lovely story!

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story based upon Rockwell's own experiences as the founder and artistic director of the cooperative community quilting group Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project. A group of people from different generations and ethnicities work together to create a work of art to hang in the library.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely story of the Peace by Piece multi-generational quilting group directed by Lizzie Rockwell. The picture book celebrates the creative work of the pairs of older and younger quilters but it also serves as an introduction to the art and process of quilting. Lovely illustrations. Back matter includes additional information about the group and also about quilting.

This one made my heart ache for life before COVID.

[Lisa Yee Swope · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the fabrics! I've seen these prints in actual fabrics.

My grandma used to hand-quilt every winter. I wish she'd taught me! The project of making this quilt is intergenerational and I love the images of seniors and children working together to make a wall hanging for the good of the community, for display in the library.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one with its illustrations created with watercolor, ink, and scans of fabric, is a 3.5 for me. While I've never attempted to make a quilt, I have owned several made by hand and been around seamstresses as they gathered together to work on one. This story, based on the author's own experience, tells about the Peace by Piece quilting project. The book follows various individuals as they meet weekly at a community center to choose fabric and put a large quilt together. Two quilters combine their chosen fabric to make a square, and then they move the various squares around to form different combinations. The quilters must choose the pattern they like the best, create a border, and then pin and sew all the pieces together as well as adding layers, basting, and stitching. It's amazing how long this process takes and how dedicated the quilters are. Readers won't want to miss the backmatter, which depicts several common quilt patterns based on blocks and information about this project that got its start in Norwalk. There's even a fascinating page describing the fabric chosen for the quilt. Although the project clearly took a long time to complete, it's also clear just how vested all those quilters have become and how it drew them together. Perhaps other communities will draw inspiration from this project and start a similar one in their own towns or cities.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not only a "how-to" book but one where the "how-to" is shown from piece to piece with pairs choosing, then all the putting together, finally the quilting by more people for weeks until that final binding edge and done! The beauty of the book is seeing all the diverse people, all working together to create something beautiful, as Lizzy Rockwell writes, a "Peace by Piece" quilt. This is a true story, the quilt is real, created by the Norwalk Community Quilt Project in Norwalk, Connecticut. There is information about that group at the back, along with the names of varied quilt block patterns and descriptions of each piece of cloth chosen. What a wonderful story Lizzy Rockwell has brought to all of us!

[Mirallegro, Marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "The All-Together Quit" because it shows a community coming together to construct a quilt that everyone takes part of. Everyone, no matter the age or race, work together to paint, sew and create something very meaningful. This novel also shows tips on how to sew as well, which I think could be very helpful for kids to sew with their parents or grandparents. I think this novel would also be a great book to lead into an activity for the whole class to make their own quilt. For these reasons, I do think I would have this book in my classroom and I would also have this book as a recommendation for a family newsletter as well. I think this would motivate families to create something together after reading this novel.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The simple, straight-forward delivery of the Rockwell's picture books never fails to enchant me. This one in particular was made even more special thanks to Rockwell's experience as the founder and artistic director of the cooperative community quilting group Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project which brings people of all ages and walks of life together to create collaborative beauty for their communities. Is the universe trying to get me to learn to sew because if so, FINE TWIST MY ARM.

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book features a quilt made by many people and it truly brings them together. There are colorful, helpful illustrations that bring the main idea to a reader. At the end of the book, there is an explanation of the community quilt project that will inspire a reader. A section at the end also shows all of the main quilt block patterns. The particular quilt fabrics are also explained on the last page. Readers who are interested in the community spirit, as well as quilts, will enjoy reading this one. Highly recommended for Grades 3-5.

[Maeve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer and her friends attend a program at the community center to make a quilt. Together with her her friends, Jennifer picks out fabrics, cuts the pieces, and sews them together. In the end, the group has made a beautiful quilt that hangs proudly at the local library.

A sweet story about community and creativity. The author included small print to explain certain concepts to readers...but it doesn't take away from the overall story.

[Rebecca Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on a true story of how a community works together to make a quilt. This is great for an adult and child who want to start sewing together since it depicts some of the technical aspects in quilting (yet it's not too difficult to understand). A great book for a Quilt Storytime theme where kids can make their own "quilt" at the end out of felt fabric, tissue paper, regular paper, etc.

[Norkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed hearing about the quilting group, how young and old team-up, and how others from the neighborhood come together or even family and friends join in. A great community project and learned a little bit about sewing! Very neat, detailed illustrations and it was so cool how each piece of the quilt had a back story, many of which originated in other countries.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit odd that there doesn't seem to be much quilt design at the beginning.
I'm also confused by them tracing patterns and cutting fabric using scissors in the beginning, when they use a rotary cutter later (and the rotary cutter, with no pattern, would be the best choice for all these pieces).
Like the community of people sewing things together and old and young working together.

[Olivia Segroves]

This book is about a girl named Jennifer who makes a quilt at the community center with a diverse group of people. This story illustrates how all sorts of people can come together to create something beautiful together. This would be a good story to read to my future class at the beginning of the year to show them how we can all work together.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended in a webinar that I attended. This book will bring absolute joy to any quilter. Such a wonderful story with even better illustrations. I love that it showed how a quilt is made from the very beginning (fabric selection) all the way up to the last step (the binding). Do yourself a favor and pick this one up!

[Aolund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful! A wonderful, celebratory book about community and quilting which imparts the basic principles of how to make a quilt, is fun to read, showcases a diverse community working together, and is full of math concepts.

Themes: Quilts, Working Together, Community
Age range: 3-7

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to this release, but it's more of a memoir almost, of a quilting club, than it really works as a stand alone story. It would work best if you were going to start your own quilting club.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't so much a story as an explanation of how a quilt is made. Great illustrations show each step and there's a great, diverse cast of friends working on the quilt. This could be used as a group read aloud, or a fun introduction to get kids excited about making a quilt.

[Emily✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great! Simple but well executed, based on the author's experiences with a real community quilting group called Peace by Piece. Also good for exploring culture, art, and math concepts with kids.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful story and book! So-community oriented, and I love that they ended up displaying the quilt in the local library. This would have been the perfect book for this past summer’s CSLP theme: All Together Now.

[Allison Lauri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book to any elementary school class. This book talks about working together as a team to get jobs done. This book also talks about having friends is important to everyone. And to treat everyone how you would like to be treated.

[Cierra Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a community coming together to make a quote the making of the quote, celebrates, teamwork, and creativity. The community step-by-step, creating this quilt from the fabric and ideas to the finish result this book does a great way of teaching children about teamwork.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this to different grades this last week. It is a wonderful story of coming together, sharing knowledge and producing a product everyone can enjoy. Some of the kids did not know what a quilt is and how they are made.