TWO QUILT HISTORY BOOKS AND ONE OTHER

I don’t believe that I have shared with you readers my most recent quilt history books.

  

Common Threads:  Quilting Traditions of Hunterdon County, NJ

 (front and back covers)

This 50 page wire-bound book contains color photos of about 50 quilts dating from 1842 though to a few from the 21st century.  They were part of a short exhibit earlier this year of Hunterdon County, New Jersey quilts curated by Judy Grow.

The other quilt history book I purchased some months later from the Denver Art Museum, First Glance ~ Second Look:  Quilts from the Denver Art Museum Collection.

This exhibit is still showing at the DAM through March 15, 2015.  If I should made it to Denver before that date, I will surely stop in to see these great quilts.  My favorite in the book is the circa late 1800s house quilt featured on the cover of the book  Love that cheddar fabric, the red and white striped sashing, and the occasional pine tree blocks scattered in amongt the houses.  Furthermore, there are fold out pages to showcase larger photos of a couple of quilts.

My latest read was a fiction book entitled The Signature of All Things written by Elizabeth Gilbert.  She is the author of the very popular book that later became a Julia Roberts movie, Eat, Pray, Love.

The book is described on her web page as follows:

Elizabeth Gilbert’s first novel in twelve years is an extraordinary story of botany, exploration and desire, spanning across much of the 19th century. The novel follows the fortunes of the brilliant Alma Whittaker (daughter of a bold and charismatic botanical explorer) as she comes into her own within the world of plants and science. As Alma’s careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she loves draws her in the opposite direction—into the realm of the spiritual, the divine and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist; Ambrose is a Utopian artist. But what unites this couple is a shared passion for knowing—a desperate need to understand the workings of this world, and the mechanism behind of all life. The Signature of All Things is a big novel, about a big century. Exquisitely researched and told at a galloping pace, this story novel soars across the globe—from London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam and beyond. It is written in the bold, questing spirit of that singular time. Alma Whittaker is a witness to history, as well as maker of history herself. She stands on the cusp of the modern, with one foot still in the Enlightened Age, and she is certain to be loved by readers across the world.

I never would have dreamed that the life of a 19th century botanist could be so fascinating but it’s the lead character’s development as a child, then young adult, then older lady that is so fascinating.  Once again an old dog learned some new tricks.
That’s all for now.  I need to skim over the photos I’ve downloaded in the last two months to see if there is anything else that needs to be written about.  I know there is but I have to find it first!


May your bobbins always be full,