Quilting News of Yesteryear: Crazy As a Bed Quilt

From the early 1880s through the second quarter of the twentieth century, American women made crazy quilts in colossal numbers. The velvets, satins, silks, wools and cottons of the crazy quilt era reflect abundance in the economy of the society-at-large. Just as they filled their scrapbook albums with trade cards, calling cards, photos and memorabilia, crazy quilt makers embellished their quilts with their most favorite things. The result was newsworthy...literally. Newspapers picked up on the accomplishments of these talented women and shared them with their communities. This new book contains over 200 newspaper articles dating from 1880 to 1945 that trace crazy quilt patterns and articles in women's magazines and pamphlets. The fascinating text is illustrated with quilts that are contemporary to the source articles. All of the pictures are close-ups, showing their intricate pieces and extensive embellishment. This unusual book enriches the history and appreciation of the quilt as art.

Sue Reich began her interest in the study of quilt history with the Connecticut Quilt Documentation Project in 1991. A quiltmaker since childhood, she lectures widely on many aspects of quilt history, co-authored Quilts and Quiltmakers Covering Connecticut, and wrote Quilting News of Yesteryear: 1000 Pieces and Counting. She is a certified AQS quilt appraiser.