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Quilts in Children’s Books, Part Two: The Underground Railroad Quilt Code

 

Underground Railroad Quilt CodeThe Monkey Wrench turns the Wagon Wheel toward Canada on a Bear’s Paw trail to the Crossroads. Once they got to the Crossroads, they dug a Log Cabin on the ground. Shoofly told them to dress up in cotton and satin Bow Ties and go to the cathedral church, get married and exchange Double Wedding Rings. Flying Geese stay on the Drunkard’s Path and follow the Stars.

–The Underground Railroad Quilt Code, according to Ozella Williams, reported in Hidden in Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D.

It’s no big surprise that the Quilt Code story caught on. Slaves escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad in the dark of night, their way mapped for them by quilts hanging on clotheslines or low-hanging branches–all the elements of a great saga are here: heroes, villains, dangerous journeys, secret knowledge, the dream of freedom.

Underground Railroad Quilt CodeGiven what a marvelous story this is, it’s also no surprise that more than one children’s book writer has latched onto it. Books that feature quilts as guides for slaves making their way north to freedom include Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad Quilt in the Sky by Faith Ringgold, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson, The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom by Bettye Stroud, Under the Quilt of Dark by Deborah Hopkinson, The Secret to Freedom by Marcia Vaughan, Unspoken: A Story of the Underground Railroad by Henry Cole … and the list goes on.

One of the most beautiful (and beautifully written) of these books is Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson, which follows an African-American family through many generations, from slavery to freedom to the Civil Rights movement to the present day.

 

While Show Way is about more than the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, it relies on the idea of the code to frame the story. Given the beautiful illustrations by Hudson Talbott and the silver Newbery Honor Book sticker on the book’s cover, Show Way will perpetuate the myth of the Quilt Code for years to come.

Underground Railroad Quilt CodeIt’s hard to accept that the Quilt Code is a myth, and many people don’t. When doing research for this post, I found fairly recent YouTube videos of lectures that posited the Code as a historical truth. Amazon.com reviews of Hidden in Plain View written as recently as 2016 applaud it for what it reveals about our country’s history during slavery, even though quilt and Underground Railroad historians have been refuting the historicity of the Code since the book’s publication.

In a Time magazine article, folklorist Laurel Horton, who has done extensive research about the Quilt Code, told a reporter she had stopped trying to convince people that the code never existed. Instead she’s focused on why people continue to believe even though there is almost no historical evidence that quilts were used to guide slaves to freedom.

“This whole issue made me realize it’s not a matter of one group having the truth and another not,” Horton says in the article. “It’s matter of two different sets of beliefs. It’s made me realize that belief doesn’t have a lot to do with factual representation. People feel in their gut that it’s true so no one can convince them in their head that it’s otherwise.”

The picture books I’ve read about the Underground Railroad quilts offer compelling stories and are visually lovely. I suspect they’ll be used in elementary school classrooms for a long time to come. But as we seem to be moving ever closer to a time when facts are relative and need not be based on anything more than belief, I hope that this myth will be busted sooner rather than later.

 

For more about the Underground Railroad Quilt Code controversy, follow this link to read Leigh Fellner’s booklength investigation, Betsy Ross Redux, available as a downloadable PDF:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130120160626/http://ugrrquilt.hartcottagequilts.com/betsy%20ross%20redux.pdf

To watch Laurel Horton’s lecture at the International Quilt Study Center on the Quilt Code, just hit play:

To watch a video reading of Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLmiRkdIWI0

Underground Railroad historian Eric Giles on the UGRR Quilt Code Myth: http://www.historiccamdencounty.com/ccnews11_doc_01a.shtml

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Quilts in Children’s Books, Part I

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Children’s book author and illustrator Denise Fleming has this to say about what makes a good picture book:

1. Rhythm in both text and art.

2. A tight text rich in language.

3. Use of repetition or refrain which encourages the listeners to
participate.

4. A sense of playfulness and joy.

5. And rhyme, when it works, is a plus.

Sort of sounds like what makes a good quilt, doesn’t it? Okay, so instead of tight text, I guess we should substitute tight stitches, but otherwise, I’m sold.

It’s not surprising that quilts frequently appear in children’s books. Quilts bring to mind comfort and being comforted; they’re an emblem of home.

And there’s something elemental about a quilt. Sometimes I think we mis-remember childhood as being simple (it’s not) because when we’re young, the pieces of our lives are few. There’s home, there’s the dog that lives across the street, there’s the car, there’s the shopping center. As we get older, we accumulate experiences, responsibilities, and debts of all sorts. Things get complicated.

But the quilt your mom pulls out of the linen closet when you’re five and you’ve got the flu isn’t complicated at all; it’s essential. (Just like your mom.)

The quilt in Grandmother Winter is a very special quilt, although some of the quilters among us might wonder if a quilt stuffed with goose feathers (as Grandmother Winter’s quilt is) wouldn’t more accurately be called a duvet. No matter; the fact is, it wouldn’t be the same story if, after spending summer and fall collecting feathers from her flock of geese, Grandmother Winter shook her duvet over the town to make it snow.

No, it’s much better to read,

When Grandmother shakes her quilt

children come running from their homes,

catching snowflakes cold on their tongues.

Grown-ups build their woodpiles high

and scurry for sweaters, mittens and skis.

http://www.bethkrommes.com/img/illustration/covers/grandmother-winter-cover.jpg

Grandmother Winter (Houghton-Mifflin, 1999) was written by Phyllis Root and illustrated by the marvelous Beth Krommes. It’s a perfect read for when the snow starts to fall.

I’m a quilter, and I assume most of you reading this are quilters, too. Many of us live in houses virtually overrun by quilts (and I say, keep ’em coming!). But in some families, quilts are rare. In fact, if there’s a quilt at all, it’s often one that’s been passed down from generation to generation, a prized heirloom only taken out for special occasions.

In Patricia Palacco’s family, the heirloom quilt was made soon after Palacco’s great-grandmother, Anna, a Russian immigrant, arrived in the U.S. as a girl. In Palacco’s book, The Keeping Quilt, we learn that the quilt began its life as Anna’s babushka, Uncle Vladimir’s shirt, and Aunt Havalah’s nightdress, which were cut into animals and flowers and appliqued onto a white background.

The quilt serves over the years as the sabbath table tablecloth, a ground cover for picnics, and when Great-Grandma Anna marries Great-Grandfather Sasha, the quilt becomes a wedding huppa. The quilt is passed down to Grandma Carle, to Palacco’s mother Mary Ellen, and eventually to Palacco, who one day will pass the quilt onto her own daughter, Traci Denise.

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Patricia Palacco is one of my favorite children’s book writers and illustrators. If I could draw, I would want to draw exactly the way she does. The illustrations in The Keeping Quilt are lively in spite of the fact that except when depicting the quilt itself, all the drawings are in shades of brown.

If you would like to hear The Keeping Quilt read as you look at the pictures, watch this YouTube video.

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster, 1988)

Finally for today, we have Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst. Set in a small farming community, in an unspecified, way-back time, Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt is a sweet story of a man who discovers the joy of stitching. Sam wants to join his wife’s quilting bee, but is soundly rejected (“‘Don’t be silly,’ the club president said. ‘We can’t have a man here bungling everything!'”). Sam convinces the men of the community to start their own quilting bee and to make a quilt to compete against the women’s in the County Fair.

This is a light, lively book with folksy illustrations that mirror the story’s tone. A note at the end of the book informs the reader that the border designs for each picture are actual quilt patterns and then gives the names in order of their appearance. Very fun!

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Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt by Lisa Campbell Ernst (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1983).

Stay tuned for Part II of Quilts in Children’s Books, where we’ll take a look at that beloved myth: the use of quilts in the Underground Railroad.

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A Quilting Bookshelf

Novels

Ann Anastasio and Lani Longshore

  • Death by Chenille (self-published, 2011)
  • When Chenille is Not Enough (self published, 2013)

Jodi Barrows

  • Kisses from Your Beloved (SNS Publishing 2011),
  • Threads of Change: A Quilting Story Part 1 (River North, 2013),
  • Threads of Home: A Quilting Story Part 2 (River North, 2014)

Samantha Bayarr

  • The Quilter’s Son (Livingston Hall Publishers, 2012)
  • The Quilter’s Son: Book Two: Lydia’s Heart (Livingston Hall Publishers, 2013)
  • The Quilter’s Son: Book Three: Nathan’s Apprentice (Livingston Hall Publishers, 2013)
  • The Quilter’s Son: Book Four: Maddie’s Quilt (Livingston Hall Publishers, 2013)

Marie Bostwick

  • A Single Thread: Cobbled Court #1 (Kensington, 2008)
  • A Thread of Truth: Cobbled Court #2 (Kensington, 2009)
  • A Thread So Thin: Cobbled Court #3 (Kensington 2010),
  • Threading the Needle: Cobbled Court #4 (Kensington, 2011)
  • Ties That Bind: Cobbled Court #5 (Kensington, 2012)
  • Between Heaven and Texas (Kensington, 2013)
  • The Second Sister (Kensington, 2015)
  • From Here to Home (Kensington, 2016)

Paulette Bourgeois

  • Oma’s Quilt (Kids Can Press, 2001)

Jeff Brumbeau

  • The Quiltmaker’s Gift (Scholastic Press, 2001),
  • The Quiltmaker’s Journey (Orchard Books, 2005)

Wanda Brunstetter

  • The Half-Stitched Amish Quilting Club (Barbour Books, 2012)
  • The Tattered Quilt (Barbour Books, 2013)

T. Davis Bunn

  • The Quilt (Bethany House, 2004)

Barbara Cameron

  • A Time to Love – Quilts of Lancaster County #1 (Abingdon Press, 2010)
  • A Time to Heal – Quilts of Lancaster County #2 (Abingdon Press, 2011)
  • A Time for Peace – Quilts of Lancaster County #3 (Abingdon Press, 2011)
  • Annie’s Christmas Wish – Quilts of Lancaster County #4 (Abingdon Press, 2013)

Jan Cerney

  • The Boarding School Quilts (American Quilter’s Society, 2014)
  • The Cheyenne River Mission Quilts (American Quilter’s Society, 2014)
  • The Birdcage Quilts (American Quilter’s Society, 2015)
  • Mystery of the Missing Quilts (American Quilter’s Society, 2015)

Tracy Chevalier

  • The Last Runaway (Plume, 2013) www.tchevalier.com

Jennifer Chiaverini

  • The Quilter’s Apprentice (Plume, 1999)
  • Round Robin (Plume, 2000)
  • The Cross-Country Quilters (Plume, 2001)
  • The Runaway Quilt (Plume, 2002)
  • The Quilter’s Legacy (Plume, 2003)
  • The Master Quilter (Plume, 2004)
  • The Sugar Camp Quilt (Plume, 2005)
  • The Christmas Quilt (Plume, 2005)
  • Circle of Quilters (Plume, 2006)
  • The Quilter’s Homecoming (Plume, 2007)
  • The New Year’s Quilt (Plume, 2007)
  • The Winding Ways Quilt (Plume, 2008)
  • The Quilter’s Kitchen (Plume, 2008)
  • The Lost Quilter (Plume, 2009)
  • A Quilter’s Holiday (Plume, 2009)
  • The Aloha Quilt (Plume, 2010)
  • The Union Quilters (Plume, 2011
  • The Wedding Quilt (Plume, 2011)
  • Sonoma Rose (Plume, 2012)
  • The Giving Quilt (Plume, 2012)

Elizabeth Craig

  • Quilt or Innocence: A Southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2012)
  • Knot What it Seams: A Southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2013)
  • Quilt Trip: A southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2013)
  • Shear Trouble: A Southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2014)
  • Tying the Knot: A Southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2015)
  • Patch of Trouble: A Southern Quilting Mystery (Signet, 2016)

Mary Daheim

  • The Alpine Quilt: An Emma Lord Mystery (Fawcett, 2006)

Sandra Dallas

  • The Persian Pickle Club (St. Martin’s Press, 1996)
  • Alice’s Tulips (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001)
  • Prayers for Sale (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009)
  • The Quilt Walk (Sleeping Bear Press, 2013)

T. Davis Bunn

  • The Quilt (Bethany House, 1993)

Frances O’Roark Dowell

  • Birds in the Air (Milton Falls Media, 2016)

Alicia Diane Durand

  • Quilts, Tacos and Tattoos (Self-published, 2012)

Lisa Campbell Ernst

  • Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt (HarperCollins, 1992)

Gyleen X. Fitzgerald

  • The Dream: A Magical Journey in Colourful Stitches (FPI Publishing, 2005)

Valerie Flournoy

  • The Patchwork Quilt (Dial Books for Young Readers, 1985)

Earlene Fowler

  • Fool’s Puzzle (Berkeley, 1994)
  • Irish Chain (Berkeley, 1995)
  • Kansas Troubles (Berkeley, 1996)
  • Goose in the Pond (Berkeley, 1997)
  • Dove in the Window (Berkeley, 1998)
  • Mariner’s Compass (Berkeley, 1999)
  • Seven Sisters (Berkeley, 2000)
  • Arkansas Traveler (Berkeley, 2001)
  • Steps to the Altar (Berkeley, 2002)
  • Sunshine and Shadow (Berkeley, 2003)
  • Broken Dishes (Berkeley, 2004)
  • Delectable Mountains (Berkeley, 2005)
  • Tumbling Blocks (Berkeley, 2007)
  • State Fair (Berkeley, 2010)
  • Spider Web (Berkeley, 2011)

Sara Hoskinsin Frommer

  • Buried In Quilts: A Joan Spenser Mystery (iUniverse, 2000)

Barbara Graham

  • Murder by Artifact: The Murder Quilt (Wheeler Publishing, 2010)
  • Murder by Music: A Quilted Mystery (Worldwide, 2013)
  • Murder by Serpents: A Quilted Mystery (Worldwide, 2013)
  • Murder by Vegetable (Wheeler Publishing, 2013)
  • Murder by Sunlight (Five Star Publishing, 2013)

Ann Hazelwood

  • The Basement Quilt (American Quilter’s Society, 2012)
  • The Potting Shed Quilt (American Quilter’s Society, 2013)
  • The Funeral Parlor Quilt (American Quilter’s Society, 2013)
  • The Forgiving Quilt (American Quilter’s Society, 2015)
  • Josephine’s Guest House Quilt (American Quilter’s Society, 2016)
  • A Colebridge Quilted Christmas (American Quilter’s Society, 2015)
  • The Ghostly Quilts on Main (American Quilter’s Society, 2014)
  • The Jane Austen Quilt Club (American Quilter’s Society, 2014)
  • Quilted Lilies (American Quilter’s Society, 2015)

Deborah Hopkinson

  • Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Dragonfly Books, 1995)
  • Under the Quilt of Night (Perfection Learning, 2005)

Silas House

  • Clay’s Quilt (Algonquin Books, 2001)

Ellen Howard

  • The Log Cabin Quilt (Holiday House, 1997)

Linda Hubalek

  • Trail of Thread: A Woman’s Westward Journey (Butterfield Books, 1995)
  • Thimble of Soil: A Woman’s Quest for Land (Butterfield Books, 1996)
  • Stitch of Courage: A Woman’s Fight for Freedom (Butterfield Books, 1996)

Marsha Hubler

  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 1 – Nanette’s Needle and Thread (Helping Hands Press, 2012),
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 2 – Sadie Bletcher’s Trip Out West (Helping Hands Press, 2012)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 3 – Christmas Cookies for Mrs. Darling (Helping Hands Press, 2012)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 4 – Mandie’s Marriage Dilemma (Helping Hands Press, 2012)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 5 – Rhonda’s Rumschpringe (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 6 – Louellen Returns Home (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 7 – A New Home for the Harners (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 8 – A Double Lesson In Love (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 9 – Cara Minds Her Own Business (Helping Hands Press 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 10 – Louellen’s Summer Blessing (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 11 – Valerie’s Run-In With the Law (Helping Hands Press, 2013)
  • The Snyder County Quilting Bee – Vol. 12 – The Quilting Bee Reunion (Helping Hands Press, 2013)

Charlie Hudson

  • Small Town Lies (American Quilter’s Society, 2013)
  • Small Town Haven (American Quilter’s Society, 2013)

T.D. Jakes

  • The Memory Quilt: A Christmas Story for Our Times (Atria Books, 2009)

Denys Johnson-Davies

  • Goha The Wise Fool (Philomel, 2005)

Tony Johnston

  • The Quilt Story (Scholastic, 1990)

Ann Jonas

  • The Quilt (Greenwillow Books, 1984)

Carol Dean Jones

  • Tie Died: A Quilting Cozy (lulu.com, 2013)
  • Running Stitches: A Quilting Cozy (lulu.com, 2013)

Shirley Kurtz

  • The Boy and the Quilt (Good Books, 2001)

Irene Latham

  • Leaving Gee’s Bend (Putnam Juvenile, 2010)

Karen Lowe

  • A Quilt Detective Mystery: A Patchwork of Poison: A Mystery in 40 motifs (Beanpole Books, 2012)

Mary Devlin Lynch and Debbie Devlin Zook

  • The Quilt Ripper: Miranda Hathaway Adventures #1 (Devlin’s Books, 2015)

Dennis McGregor

  • Dream Again (Small Pond Publishing, 2013)

Patricia McKissack

  • Stitchin’ and Pullin’: A Gee’s Bend Quilt (Picture Book) (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2008)

Annette Mahon

  • An Ominous Death (Five Star, 2006)
  • Bits and Pieces (Five Star, 2010)
  • St. Rose Goes Hawaiian: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery (Five Star, 2012)
  • Bright Hopes: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery (Five Star, 2014)
  • Slay Bells: A St. Rose Quilting Bee Mystery (Five Star, 2016)

Zakes Mda

  • Cion: A Novel (Picador, 2007)

Barbara Michaels

  • Stitches In Time (Harper Collins, 1995)

Loris Nebbia

  • Solomon’s Puzzle (Blessing house Press, 2010)

Clare O’Donohue

  • The Lover’s Knot: Someday Quilts Mysteries #1 (Plume, 2008)
  • A Drunkards Path: Someday Quilts Mysteries #2 (Plume, 2009)
  • The Double Cross: Someday Quilts Mysteries #3 (Plume, 2010)
  • The Devil’s Puzzle: Someday Quilts Mysteries #4 (Plume, 2011)
  • The Double Wedding Ring: Someday Quilts Mysteries #5 (Plume, 2013)
  • Cathedral Windows: E-novella #1 (Plume, 2012)
  • Streak of Lightning: E-novella #2 (Plume, 2013)

Whitney Otto

  • How to Make an American Quilt (Villard, 1991)

Katherine Hall Page

  • The Body in the Basement (Minotaur Books, 1994)

Judith Pella

  • Bachelor’s Puzzle (Patchwork Circle Series, Book 1) (Bethany House, 2007)
  • Sister’s Choice (Patchwork Circle Series, Book 2) (Bethany House, 2008)

Marta Perry

  • Katie’s Way: Pleasant Valley Book 5 (Berkley, 2011)

Patricia Polacco

  • The Keeping Quilt (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Carl Quiltman

  • E-novellas: Quilting Is Murder (Self-published, 2012)
  • The Strange Quilter (Self-published, 2013)
  • Quilters in Prison (Self-published, 2013)
  • Quilt of Revenge (Self-published, 2013)
  • The Magic Quilt (Self-published, 2013)
  • The Oldest Quilter in the World (Self-published, 2013), Gray Handed Quilter (Self-published, 2013)

Lani Diane Rich

  • The Fortune Quilt (NAL Trade, 2007)

Emilie Richards

  • The Wedding Ring: Shenandoah Album Series #1 (Mira, 2004)
  • Endless Chain: Shenandoah Album Series #2 (Mira, 2005)
  • Lover’s Knot: Shenandoah Album Series #3 (Mira, 2006)
  • Touching Stars: Shenandoah Album Series #4 (Mira, 2007)
  • Sister’s Choice: Shenandoah Album Series #5 (Mira, 2008)

Faith Ringgold

  • Tar Beach (Dragonfly Books, 1996)
  • Cassie’s Word Quilt (Dragonfly Books,2004)

Marjorie Sorrell Rockwell


  • The Underhanded Stitch     (A Quilters Club Mystery No. 1) (Self-published, 2013)
  • The Patchwork Puzzler (A Quilters Club Mystery No. 2) (Self-published, 2013)
  • Coming Unraveled (A Quilters Club Mystery No. 3) (Self-published, 2013)

Arlene Sachitano

  • Quilt As Desired: Loose Threads Mystery #1 (Zumaya Enigma, 2008)
  • Quilter’s Knot: Loose Threads Mystery #2 (Zumaya Enigma, 2008)
  • Quilt As You Go: Loose Threads Mystery #3 (Zumaya Enigma, 2009)
  • Quilt By Association: Loose Threads Mystery #4 (Zumaya Enigma, 2010)
  • The Quilt Before the Storm: Loose threads Mystery #5 (Zumaya Enigma, 2012)
  • Make Quilts Not War: Loose Threads Mystery #6 (Zumaya Enigma, 2013)
  • A Quilt in Time: Loose Threads Mystery #7 (Zumaya Enigma, 2014)
  • Crazy as a Quilt: Loose Threads Mystery #8 (Zumaya Enigma, 2015)
  • Disappearing Nine-Patch: Loose Threads Mystery #9 (Zumaya Enigma, 2016

Elaine Schmidt

  • The Travelers: Present in the Past (Kansas City Star Books, 2012)

Linda Shertzer

  • Mended Hearts: Quilting Romance Series (Jove, 1999)

Sieglinde Schoen Smith

  • Mother Earth and Her Children: A Quilted Fairy Tale (Breckling Press, 2007)

Bettye Stroud

  • A Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom (Candlewick, 2007)

Leann Sweeney

  • The Cat, The Quilt and The Corpse: Cats In Trouble #1 (New American Library, 2009)
  • The Cat, The Professor and The Poison: Cats In Trouble #2 (Signet, 2010)
  • The Cat, The Lady and The Liar: Cats In Trouble #3 (Signet, 2011)
  • The Cat, the Wife and The Weapon: Cats In Trouble #4 (Signet, 2012)
  • The Cat, The Mill and The Murder: Cats In Trouble #5 (Signet, 2013)

Terri Thayer

  • Wild Goose Chase (A Quilting Mystery) (Midnight Ink, 2008)
  • Old Maid’s Puzzle (A Quilting Mystery) (Midnight Ink, 2008)
  • Ocean Waves (A Quilting Mystery) (Midnight Ink, 2009)
  • Monkey Wrench (A Quilting Mystery) (Midnight Ink, 2012)

Kay Velarde

  • Murder with a Twist: Sewamee Mountain Quilt Mysteries (American Quilting Society, 2016)

Lori Wagner

  • Quilting Patches of Life (Affirming Faith, 2007)
  • A Patchwork of Freedom (Affirming Faith, 2007)
  • The Rose of Sharon (Affirming Faith, 2010), Buttercup (2013)

Aliske Webb

  • Twelve Golden Threads: A Novel of Life Lessons from Grandma’s Quilt (Harper Perennial, 1997)
  • Murder at the Quilt Show (Quilt Inn Publishing, 1995)
  • Scrap Quilt Memories: A Heroine’s Journey (Quilt Inn Printworks, Inc, 1993)
  • The Phoenix Quilt (HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty Ltd, 1998)
  • The Fragile Thread (Starburst Publishers, 1999)

Stephanie Grace Whitson

  • The Key on the Quilt: Quilt Chronicles #1 (Barbour Publishing, 2012)
  • The Shadow on the Quilt: Quilt Chronicles #2 (Barbour Publishing 2012)
  • The Message on the Quilt: Quilt Chronicles #3 (Barbour Publishing, 2013)

Susan Wiggs

  • The Goodbye Quilt (Mira, 2011)

Cindy Woodsmall

  • When the Heart Cries: Sisters of the Quilt #1 (Waterbrook Press, 2006)
  • When the Morning Comes: Sisters of the Quilt #2 (Waterbrook Press, 2007)
  • When the Soul Mends: Sisters of the Quilt #3 (Waterbrook Press, 2008)

Jacqueline Woodson

  • Show Way (Putnam Juvenile, 2005)

Nellie Snyder Yost (with Grace Snyder)

  • No Time on My Hands (Caxton Printers, 1963)
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GoodReads – Birds in the Air (10 Copies!)

Enter the Goodreads.com Giveaway now.

Enter the Goodreads.com Giveaway now.

Enter for a chance to win one of 10 signed copies of Birds in the Air, a novel that Marianne Fons calls “a truly enjoyable read” about “the power of quilts to connect, heal, and restore the soul.”

In her first novel for adults, Frances O’Roark Dowell (bestselling author of Dovey Coe, The Secret Language of Girls, Trouble the Water and other “beloved books for tweens and teenagers” (New York Times Sunday Book Review) — has created a warm, funny novel about fitting in, falling out and mending frayed relationships one stitch at a time.

Fans of Marie Bostwick and Jennifer Chiaverini are sure to love the resilient quilters of Sweet Anne’s Gap.

Enter to win one of 10 free copies of ‘Birds in the Air’ Now!