Patchwork Iowa quilts and quilters

Schmeal begins her concise study of Iowa quilts and quilters with the observation that the relationships between quilt-makers and their quilts is at once essential and perishing. Acting on this realization, she conducted interviews with Iowa quilt-makers and assembled them in Patchwork. The pages between each of the 13 interviews contain attractively photographed late 19th- and early 20th-century quilts by unidentified makers represented almost exclusively by the author's collection and the holdings of the Grout Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. The paradox of this book lies in the fact that quilts pieced, appliqued, and sewn by the makers interviewed are not shown. Similarly, the connections between the quilts and the interviews with which they are grouped are not apparent. The quilt-makers' vignettes based on the interviews seemingly are not faithful transcriptions, but carefully crafted little biographies built around direct quotes that tell the reader as much about the author's values as those of the quilt-makers. The underlying premise for this book could not be more right. Schmeal, however, has not fully accepted her own challenge to save the voice of the quilt. ^BSumming Up: Recommended for collectors. General readers. B. L. Herman University of Delaware