Johanna Wilson - Prairie Quilts: Projects for the Home Inspired by the Life and Times of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Prairie Quilts Projects for the Home Inspired by the Life and Times of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Johanna Wilson 2004 Johanna Wilson
Published by 700 East State Street Iola, WI 54990-0001
715-445-2214 888-457-2873
www.krause.com Our toll-free number to place an order or obtain a free catalog is 800-258-0929. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio or television. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2004100736 ISBN: 0-87349-773-2
eISBN: 978-0-8734-9773-2 Edited by Nicole Gould
Designed by Sharon Laufenberg Printed in the United States of America Dedication To my family and friends who continue to encourage and support my creative endeavors. They have learned more about quilts, fabrics, and history than they ever thought they needed to know! Especially to Joni, who asked when, not if, I was going to write a quilt book about Laura; to Ormon who asked, Why not?; and to Sandy and Carol who said, Of course, you can. Acknowledgments Thanks to the twenty-first century quilters, Bonnie Erickson, Kathy Goral, Bev Keltgen, and Karla Schulz, who helped make new quilts for Prairie Quilts.

Thanks to Julie Clark, Niki Gould, Ann Grefe, Carol Haines, Kristi Sotona, and Sandra Schaeffer for sharing quilts. My sincerest respect and appreciation to the nineteenth-and twentieth-century quilters who left vintage blocks, quilt tops, and quilts for us to enjoy. I like to think they would be pleased to see their unfinished pieces turned into projects for this book. It has been a most rewarding process. Thanks to Dan River for fabrics used in the Sisters Choice projects, and to Morning Glory and Mountain Mist for the batting used in many of the quilts. Thanks to the staff at Krause, especially my editor Niki Gould, for their enthusiasm and guidance throughout this project.

Much appreciation goes to photographer Bob Best for his beautiful photography and willingness to try any shot. Finally, thank you to the following for providing the locations for many of the photos in this book: Bob Strand and the Iola Historical Society, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, and Joe and Tricia Kertzman. Table of Contents Welcome to Prairie Quilts Dear Reader, In the 1870s, a little girl named Laura Ingalls lived with her family in a dugout home and played among the plum thickets along the banks of Plum Creek on the Minnesota prairie. As an adult, Laura Ingalls Wilder would write a series of wonderful books about her pioneer familys experiences as they moved around the country seeking a better life. The Wilder books are rich in detail about frontier life in the nineteenth century, and quilting is one of the many crafts described in some detail. My husband and I started our Plum Creek Patchwork business on a farm directly across the fields from the site of the Ingalls Plum Creek home.

This led me to reread Lauras books and to search for references to quilting in their text. As I explored Lauras story, my research gave me many ideas for quilt patterns, and Prairie Quilts is the result. In addition to the quilt blocks mentioned in the books, I searched for blocks that would typically have been used in the late nineteenth century. The opportunity to include time-appropriate vintage quilt blocks and quilt tops in this collection was especially rewarding. Several of the antique tops used in this book have been quilted by hand or by machine without major adjustments. Others were labors of love that required substantial effort in taking the quilts apart, resizing them, and sewing them back together.

Some of the appliqu projects are especially delightful in their reflection of Lauras whimsical spirit. I was particularly pleased to be able to complete some of the vintage quilt patterns with fabrics of my own designthus linking past and present in a common effort. These projects have given me a greater appreciation for the work of early quilters and the rich heritage they have handed down to us. This book has provided me with the opportunity to share that heritage with you and combine it with new fabrics using modern techniques. It is my hope that this collection of 27 projects will encourage you to explore your fabric collection and make a quilt reminiscent of the life Laura describes in her books. Perhaps it will pique your interest in rereading the Wilder books or, better still, lead you to share them with a child.

You may also be enticed to visit one or more of the many Laura sites listed on . However you choose to enhance your experience of the series, I wish you happy quilting and a rich journey through history. Johanna Wilson Quilt Beginnings Fabric Selection Choosing fabric for your next quilt project should be an exhilarating experience, but I know many of you are uncomfortable with the prospect of making fabric choices. You may consider it an intimidating, but necessary, chore before you can begin the part you like bestmaking a quilt. Perhaps the following suggestions will offer you confidence to make fabric shopping more enjoyable.
Choose one fabric you really like. Vary the size (scale) of the prints. Try to visualize the fabrics as they will appear in the quilt (size, position). Consider including a new color, a plaid, a stripe, or a large print that may introduce just the sparkle you were hoping to find. Choose the best fabrics you can afford.