How To Make An African Quilt: The Story of the Patchwork Project of Segou, Mali

by Bonnie Lee Black

How do we sew together the hoped-for future and the unfortunate past, the bright as well as the darker patches of our lives? How do we stitch cultural differences, join disparate worlds, to create something both beautiful and useful? Bonnie Lee Black subtly addresses these universal questions through vivid stories of her life-changing experience living and working in the fabled city of Segou, Mali, in West Africa. At the request of a talented group of Malian seamstresses, Black taught them the craft of American patchwork quilting and spearheaded an economic development effort called the Patchwork Project. She has now created a many-layered patchwork quilt of a book that brings that time and place and all its colorful characters to life on the page. Threaded throughout is the fictional narrative of Jeneba, a slave-quilter in the antebellum American South who had been kidnapped from the Kingdom of Segou as a child, as well as the real voices of the Malian women who took part in the Patchwork Project.

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2013

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

ouch maybe bonnie should have left africa earlier. i sensed things unraveling once she moved to mali after a delicious peace corps experience in gabon. the magic seems to have worn off as she navigates living in the hot dry country of mali along the niger river trying to find meaning in her everyday activities by fashioning a project for women making quilts, which are not the usual mode of craft. bonnie's fortitude and ability to stay the course is admirable and hopefully all the newness of quilting have blended these new techniques into their age old traditions of hand weaving and the stupendous art of mud cloth. i have reservations.......

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read and enjoyed "How to Cook a Crocodile," I was looking forward to the sequel, and I was not disappointed. More than a memoir, Bonnie Lee Black continues to find her sweet spot in this engaging story of her life in Mali, teaching the women and girls of Mali to crochet and quilt, and in the process to gain some economic independence. A good read.

[Abby Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I lived in Cote d'Ivoire the same time the author was in Mali and had some similar experiences with quilting and social interactions. I want to read her How to Cook a Crocodile.