“I am certain that a sewing machine would relieve as much human suffering as a hundred lunatic asylums and possibly a good deal more.” — Margret Atwood, Canadian poet, writer.

Quilting has been gradually liberated from its traditional image of being a patchwork craft to a recognized form of creative expression. The joy of creating a quilt, is the fabrication of shapes and selection of colors, with fulfillment being the arrangement of these elements into a motif. An exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1971 featured an exhibit “Abstract Design in American Quilts” opened minds to the skill and imagination of quilting as an art form.

The filmmaker Ken Burns, whose work includes “The Civil War” and “Baseball,” has an interest in the American experience, which is why he collects quilts. He has quilts that he considers precocious art, made in the 19th century, with designs like the abstract works of Piet Mondrian, painted in the 1920s. To him, quilt making is a shared experience reflecting the motto of the United States, “e pluribus Unum” out of many, one. He likes to reference a quote by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “we suffer today from too much pluribus and not enough Unum,” Burns adds, “I think quilts reflect that spirit of Unum.”

The quilter of today has access to textiles that are extensive in choice of colors and prints, available in bundles of squares called fat quarters, or strips referred to as jelly rolls. Tools for cutting and shaping include, ruled geometric guides that are used with rotary cutters and mats to make detailed pieces that become blocks. The blocks form a quilt top, that is layered with batting and a backing. The repetitive stitching that binds the layers is done by a long-armed quilting machine. Quilters now can push the limits of creativity.

A Michigan quilter has won the best of show award for two years at the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. Ann Loveless of Frankfort, Mich., quilt of 2013 “Sleeping Bear Dunes Landscape” and “Northwood Awakening” in 2015. Using textiles to create photographic precision, these quills aren’t bed coverings. April Shipp, a quilter has a piece on display at the Detroit Unity Temple that honors 5,000 Black American lives lost to lynching. The quilt took three years to complete.

The quilting bees of the past are gone, but the passion and friendship of quilting is thriving in guilds. The Gone to Pieces Quilt Guild of Alpena has been active for 25 years and has over 100 members who share their skill to promote charitable causes. Harrisville has a group, the White Pines Quilt Guild. Alcona County also has the first quilt trail in Michigan initiated in 2007. As one follows a quilt trail, large quilt blocks are discovered attached to barns.

Quilting is an activity that keeps the mind active and the hands busy, it is a creative way to develop skills, gain confidence, and share with others!

“And as any quilter will tell you, a quilter’s quilting friends are some of the dearest, most generous, and most supportive people she knows.” — Jennifer Chiaverini, author, “Elm Street Quilts.”