Every Quilt Tells a Story : A Quilter's Stash of Wit and Wisdom

by Kelley, Helen

• ISBN13: 9780896586239
• ISBN10: 0896586235
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Motorbooks Intl

Summary

Every quilt tells a story. There is a universality in those stories as well as in the quilts themselves and the threads that hold them together. In the tradition of Erma Bombeck, Helen Kelley shares her tales of quilts and quiltmaking with trademark charm and wit. This gifted storyteller gathers the snippings, threads, and scraps of everyday life and effortlessly stitches them together to create a narrative to which every quilter can relate. Each piece--from the humorous to the heartwarming--touches your soul and makes you smile, reminding you of your own passion for quilts and the stories they tell. Helen Kelley is an author, instructor, and lecturer, but she is, first and foremost, a quiltmaker. For twenty years, this "Erma Bombeck" of the quilting world has parlayed her passion for all things quilt into her enormously popular "Loose Threads" column in "Quilter's Newsletter Magazine."

Author Biography

Helen Kelley's "Loose Threads" column has been a favorite of readers of Quilter's News-letter Magazine since 1983. She is the author of Scarlet Ribbons: An Indian Technique for Today's Quilters and Dating Quilts: From 1600 to the Present. Her by-line has appeared in a variety of quilting publications, and her prize-winning quilts have been the subject of numerous photo essays. Kelley's "Renaissance Quilt" was chosen as one of the 100 Best Quilts of the Twentieth Century.

Table of Contents

Preface	8	(17)
Threads of Wisdom	17	(40)
Kelley's Laws for Quilters	18	(2)
My Mama Done Tol' Me	20	(3)
Lesson Learned from a Munchkin	23	(4)
Golden Guilt	27	(5)
That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles	32	(3)
Recycle	35	(3)
Feathering My Nest	38	(4)
Abracadabra	42	(3)
Slow and Steady Wins the Race	45	(3)
Gaining a New Dimension	48	(2)
Eating Humble Pie	50	(3)
Life Is a Sandwich	53	(4)
Keeping Us in Stitches	57	(32)
A Matter of Policy	58	(2)
Oh, Say Can You See?	60	(2)
``All My Problems'' (A Soap Opera)	62	(3)
Curses, Foiled Again	65	(3)
Consider the Lilies	68	(3)
Bow Wow	71	(3)
Seams Like Old Times	74	(3)
The Night That Time Stood Still	77	(2)
One Potato, Two Potato	79	(3)
A Monumental Mess	82	(3)
Vocabulary Lesson	85	(4)
The Quilt Connection	89	(36)
De-lightful! De-lovely!	90	(4)
The Fateful Finger	94	(2)
Tripping Was Quite Fantastic	96	(4)
Hair (Spray) Today, Clean Tomorrow	100	(2)
It's a Jungle Out There	102	(3)
How You Play the Game	105	(3)
Special Delivery	108	(3)
The Heiress	111	(4)
A Message from Mother Goose	115	(3)
A Workshop Is a Trying Experience	118	(3)
Tell-Tales	121	(4)
A Stitch in Time	125	(36)
Time Flies When You're Having Fun	126	(6)
Twinkle, Twinkle, Feathered Star	132	(4)
Happy Days	136	(4)
New and Improved	140	(3)
Just Keep A 'Rollin', Wagon Wheels	143	(3)
That's About the Size of It	146	(3)
And I Will Make Thee Beds of Roses	149	(3)
Beautiful but Dumb	152	(3)
Stitchosaurus	155	(2)
Our State Fair Is a Great State Fair	157	(4)
The Ties That Bind	161	(32)
Kissin' Kin	162	(2)
Up by the Hair on His Chinny-Chin-Chin	164	(3)
I'm a Calculating Woman	167	(2)
Over-Taxed	169	(3)
Celestial Navigation	172	(4)
Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails	176	(2)
Ode to Joy	178	(3)
To Dye, Perchance to Dream	181	(3)
Time and Tide	184	(2)
Oh, Chute	186	(3)
Leftovers	189	(4)
For the Love of Quilting	193	(31)
10 Things to Do with a Blizzard	194	(2)
The Unkindest Cut of All	196	(2)
IQ Test	198	(3)
Drawn and Quartered	201	(5)
Creature Comforts	206	(3)
You Are Cordially Invited to a Fashion Show	209	(2)
Yield Not to Temptation	211	(4)
For the Mature Audience	215	(3)
Physical Fitness	218	(3)
Starting from Square One	221	(3)
About the Author	224