Quilt books are hard for me to read all the way through for some reason. Normally, I peruse them, refer to them and glance at them. [book:Lone Stars, Volume 1: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836-1936] by [author: Karoline Patterson Bresenhan] was an exception. I persevered and read all the 'articles' about the many included quilts. Partially, I really like stories. Tell me a story and you will have my attention. I also was fascinated by the creativity of the women who made these quilts. This book could have given me more about the stories of these womens' lives, but the tidbits they did give were great.

The quilts in the book were selected as the best of the submissions, so they are all special in their own way. I like many, many of them for different reasons and had a hard time choosing my absolute favorites. Still there were a few that stood out. My favorite quilts in this book were:

Pinwheel Star pg.134: I like this quilt because it reminds me of my Interlocking Triangles quilts: Spiky Stars and Interlocking triangles . I do wish that the maker had not cut off the stars around the edges, but it does give the piece movement and boldness.

Feathered Edged Star Quilt, pg.122: This is a really complex quilt and I like the way the maker added 8-pointed stars to the middle of the Feathered Stars. She was obviously an excellent quiltmaker.

Sunburst Quilt pg.96: This is the cover quilt and it deserves to be. I like this quilt, because of the checkerboard diamond shaped piece that makes up one of the pieces of the sunburst (in the same family as a Mariner's Compass). Not only was the maker piecing a difficult pattern, but she went a step further in piecing a diamond made out of smaller diamonds. Amazing!

Rose of Sharon with Buds Quilt pg.54: The way the maker has clustered the Rose of Sharon flower patches and, especially, the appliqued swag border make this a stunning quilt. The colors, pink and green, make it extremely cheerful as well.

Rambling Rose pg.48: This is an appliqued quilt where the flowers are flanked by a vine underneath. Each unit has a flower, a curved vine underneath, a spray with three buds sticking out of the top and another vine with a flower and a bud at each end, respectively. I like the delicacy of the vines curved around the flowers.

Rising Sun quilt pg.26: The piecing of many of the quilts in the book is not for the faint of heart. The women who made the quilts in this book were not afraid of difficult patterns. This rising sun quilt is no exception. First, there are the curves, which are thin and all meet in the middle of the circle. Surrounding the circles, made up of all of those curves, is a small, curved border of slightly curved triangles. The idea is similar to a feathered star block or the treatment that [author: Judy Mathieson] gives to the outside of her circular Compass Roses. I would love to make a quilt like this one sometime, but think it would be prudent to try one block!

Many of the women pictured in this book are wizened and tiny, old women who look like they have seen more life than any person should and who have also worked long, hard days their whole life. The gorgeous quilts that came off their fingers remind me, again, that there is creativity in everyone and you can't judge a book by its cover.
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full of quilts from Texas and History ( )

Another great quilt history book and interesting Texas history also. ( )