BooksForKidsBlog

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Peace by Piece: The All-Together Quilt by Lizzy Rockwell

Jennifer and her friends met on Fridays at the community center. They were making for quilt. Everyone works together.

Jennifer partners with and older woman named Fran, and they choose two fabrics, one with dark colors and one with light colors. Fran traces a pattern shap on the light fabric and Jennifer does the same with her dark fabric and pins the two together. Fran sews them together to make a rectangle. A boy named Rich and a man names Maurice do the same with their fabric. Six more pairs of people do the same.

Together the pairs of people put the rectangles together to make eight squares.

But a girl named Naika works on one piece of plain fabric. Dipping her hand in paint, she makes handprints on her fabric, which is then cut into four long rectangles for the outside of the quilt.

With all the squares, the group tries all sort of layouts until they find the combination that pleases them all. Then the pieces are pinned and sewn and ironed and stretched over a frame, where they are carefully stitched together with warm batting and backing cloth to make the completed quilt. It is unique and beautiful, and all the workers are proud to see it framed with edging and hanging on the wall of the town public library.

Not all quilts will hang in the Louvre or even at the local library, but all of the others which the Quilting Club will make will be one-of- a- kind works and shown with pride on beds or walls all over town. Author-illustrator Lizzy Rockwell appeared in her famous picture book-producing parents' (Harlow and Ann Rockwall's) many creations, and her little quilting lesson, The All-Together Quilt (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020) is just right for crafty youngsters.

Mini-quilts for wall-hangings, doll and dog beds are popular, and Rockwell's crafty step-by-step book makes a handy manual for quilt designing. Rockwell appends a handy diagram showing nine of the most traditional American quilting patterns--Flying Geese, Bowties, Pinwheel, and Friendship Star, to name a few.

Share this one with Tony Johnston's classic The Quilt Story, illustrated by the Caldecott-winning Tomie de Paola.

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2 Comments:

  • I really like the book,The All-Together Quilt by Lizzy Rockwell, because Jennifer and her friends work together, piece by piece, create something beautiful. Jennifer and her friends change the world by working together on one project, even though they are all different from one another,to form one, big, cozy and warm quilt.I also like the book because it shows an act of kindness. They aren't making the quilt for themselves, the quilt is to share with the community.

    By Anonymous Aviva F, at 5:14 PM  

  • Thanks to Lizzy, I have learned that it is more important to help others. I have also learned that helping others can help them, even when they already have friends, to make a new friend. I hope that you will make a quilt of your own and read the book. Maybe one day, if you make a quilt, you'll be able to give it to someone who needs it to survive the cold winter!

    By Anonymous Aviva F, at 1:19 PM  

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