This fascinating odyssey through three vital decades in quiltmaking history is lavishly laced with quilt photos and quotes from well-known professionals. The author's journey highlights many of the people, events, and quilts that have brought, and continue to bring, so much pleasure and comfort to quilters' lives. The chapters in this beautiful volume cover the quilting community, the 'fabric explosion,' and the development of piecing, applique, and quilting, rounded out by story quilts, art quilts, and comments on the future of quiltmaking in America. Eleanor Levie, a seasoned quilt book editor, interviewed dozens of quilt teachers, lecturers, judges, authors, and other VIPs to compile this exciting mix of facts, stories, and quilts. It will entertain, enlighten, and inspire quilters for many decades to come. To ensure the accuracy of the information presented, the manuscript was reviewed by a board of professionals, including quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel, who also provided the foreword; quiltmaker, teacher, and historian Gerald Roy; and AQS executive show director, judge, and author Bonnie K. Browning. AUTHORBIO: Since her early childhood in Baltimore, Maryland, Eleanor Levie has enjoyed many diverse forms of sewing, weaving, and stitchery. In the 1970s, after five years as a secondary English teacher in urban public schools, she combined her hobbies and her instructional career to become a needlework and craft editor. Her first job at the Woman's Day special interest magazines was followed by senior positions at McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Woman's World, and Country Accents. REVIEW: Today's new quilters have no idea of the primitive beginnings and early struggles of the modern quilt revival that began in the '70s. They will enjoy reading this book about the development of new products, fabrics, ideas and activities connected to quilting, which many take for granted. We 'old timers' will recall these early days of a 'new/old' movement in which many women and men, not knowing they had so much creativity within, surprised themselves with a new interest....
Though born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Eleanor Levie's persona is less Baltimore Album and more Crazy Quilt. Since 1978, she has worked as a needlework and crafts editor, author, and book producer, with quilting as a specialty. Elly's best-seller, Skinny Quilts & Table Runners, features the signature styles of 15 of today's top quilt designers; the stunning sequel, Skinny Quilts & Table Runners II, comes out October '09. At the same time, the first of a green series will be available--a book of tote bags, also full of great designs from diverse and well-known quilting talents. Previously, Elly produced eight volumes of the Rodale's Successful Quilting Library series, authored Great Little Quilts, Country Living's Country Quilts, and American Quiltmaking: 1970-2000, among many other books and magazines.
A resident of Bucks County, PA, Elly edits books by other authors and presents lectures and workshops to quilt guilds and groups. She proudly shows her own quilts--eclectic, eccentric, artsy, and fun; shares her exciting collection of antique, vintage, and Skinny quilts; and inspires quilters to push the envelope, and stretch beyond their comfort zones. Visit her at www.EleanorLevie.com.
