This fun and interesting book presents the history of American pioneers by describing the quilts they made, linking common experiences they had with various quilt patterns. Projects that kids can make are also included – a great way to bring history to life!
Where I live there has been a design of posting up quilt pieces at various farms along the highways and at a few businesses. Unfortunately from what I have been able to find there isn't really any information about any of these pieces, which is a bit of a shame.
Anyway in this book The Quilt-Block History of Pioneer Days the reader is introduced to some of the patterns that can sometimes be found in older quilts such as the nine-patch, the bear's paw, the marriage rings, the shoofly, the lemoyne/lemon star and the rocky road to Kansas just to name a few. At the same time the book also explores westward expansion although it feels like there was a bit more focus on the eastern paths from the seaboard such as the Cumberland and Wilderness Roads as well as Lancaster Turnpike and Gist's Trace with sometimes a nod to the further west trails.
In the following chapters in the book the reader got to learn about the history of quilts, what it took to make a quilt, quilting album quilts for families going away, the various paths and travel as well as the work once one got to their destination such as making cabins, providing food and making the land into rich farms along with other topics. Each chapter was rather brief but rather informative although a bit on the dull side.
Tucked into the pages of each chapter the reader would find samples of various quilt blocks with four blocks per page under such collection names like basic quilt blocks, weather quilt blocks, inside the cabin blocks, special occasion blocks and special star blocks just to name a few. To add to these samples were also various arts and crafts projects for children that also include other blocks that weren't mentioned on these block pages while these projects ranged in paper Dresden blocks, quilt bookmark out of paper, etc.
As much as the information may be interesting to older readers, especially those who like quilting, the book is unfortunately not in depth enough for them while I cannot quite name a child in my own sphere who may be interested in the subject on their own merit.
Each informative chapter describes different aspects of pioneer life and how quilts figured into that — from the signature quilts that were sewn to say goodbye to friends and family, to the way quilts were used to protect fragile dishes that women hoped to bring safely to their new homes. At the end of each chapter is an easy, quilt-themed craft project. For example, after learning about signature quilts, my daughter used the template in the book to make bookmarks for everyone in our family. She signed her name on one end, and our names on the other. It has been a fun way to extend her interest in pioneers, and to learn a little more about their lives and history.
I loved the information and ideas in this book. It is a great resource for a quilting unit or a unit on the Oregon Trail. Each project idea ties into a historical aspect of pioneers and could be used for different unit plans in math, history, science, etc. There are also some extra reading recommendations in the back. I'll keep this one for future lesson planning for sure.
This book really made me learn a lot about pioneer days and how important quilts are to them but i am now really interested in how pioneers used quilts.