Monday, April 5, 2010

Quilting in Children's Books

I love reading books to my girls that mean something to me. Two of my favourite children's books feature quilting and I wanted to share them with you.

Oma's Quilt, written by Paulette Bourgeois and illustrated by Stephane Jorisch is an excellent book that features a grandmother (Oma) who is set to move to a retirement home. She's leaving behind a lifetime of memories, and her granddaughter Emily gets the idea to make her a qult so she can remember everything. This book is a real tear jerker and makes me want to get going on the memory quilt project I'm brewing up for my daughters. This book has been adapted into a short film by the National Film Board - check it out!


Sara gave my youngest daugther a fantastic book for Christmas. The Quiltmaker's Gift, written by Jeff Brumbeau and illustrated by Gail De Marcken is a BEAUTIFUL story about an amazing quiltmaker who creates wonderful quilts and gifts them to the poor. A greedy but unhappy king is searching for the one thing that will make him happy. He tries to force the quiltmaker to give him a quilt but she refuses, instead telling him that she will give him a qulit when he is poor, after he has given away all his possessions. He reluctantly agrees and experiences increasing joy and happiness with each possession he passes on, until finally, years later, he returns to the quiltmaker's cottage to gift his final belonging - his throne. The image of the quiltmaker handstitching away atop the king's throne to keep the needy warm at night is a fantastic one.
Do any of you have books that feature sewing or quilting that you love reading to your children? I'd love to hear about them!
- Donna







8 comments:

Leslie said...

i have seen the quiltmakers gift before but i think i am going to have to try to find this other one at the library this week.

Sara said...

I am pretty sure I need Oma's Quilt for my budding quilter, Big E!

Holly said...

There's a sequel to The Quiltmaker's Gift called The Quiltmaker's Journey (it tells the story of how the quiltmaker came to make all those quilts for the poor).

I've also got a book called "Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt" by Barbara Smucker about how a quilt can connect family members even when they're far apart.

Donna said...

I had read about the sequel - will have to check it out as I'm curious!

I haven't heard about the second one but will reques that from the public library, too!

Nishant said...

i am going to have to try to find this other one at the library this week.
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northernpoet said...

Donna, this is a long time since you wrote this blog, but I have a book that fits your description. Great Grandma's Gifts is a book I wrote for my grandchildren to tell them about my mother and the beautiful quilts she made for her family. It was published by Split Tree Publishing in time for my mom to see it. Sadly, she passed away this Easter, but I'm glad she got to see the book. If you're interested, you can find it at Amazon or www.splitree.ca or my website, www.mariannejones.ca
Best wishes, Marianne Jones

northernpoet said...

P.s. my mom also had a copy of The Quilt makers Gift, which she loved and left to me.

Brownie Recipes said...

I enjjoyed reading this