American Heroes Quilts Past & Present

American Heroes Quilts Past & Present is full of history and quilts.
400 color and black and white images included along with in depth stories of quilts patterns named for, or associated with, famous Americans.  55 American heroes in all including Benjamin Franklin, Davy Crocket, George Custer, Carrie Nation, Charles Lindbergh, and Rosa Parks.   Four chapters that begin with the year 1776 and end with the year 2000.  Famous Americans from every year in between.

This is another quilt book that would have made a great addition to our history while I was homeschooling.  So much interesting history including some heroes who are all but forgotten today such as Isaac Hull, Tad Lincoln, Jacob Coxey, and Allen B. Dumont.

Did you know that the Scottie Dog quilt block is believed to have been named for Franklin D Roosevelt's Scottie, Fala?  However, the pattern became popular in the 1930's and Fala wasn't born until 1940.  Fala's popularity certainly helped the Scottie Dog block become a staple in the quilting lexicon.

Included in the back of the book is a Sampler Quilt Projects Supplement.  This includes 4 sampler quilts and the templates for making 25 blocks.  They will need to be enlarged to make 10 inch squares as they are in the sampler quilts shown.

I'm up to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in my reading and can't wait to read through the entire book.  I love the rich history, but even more with quilting involved with it.  I see lots of blocks throughout the book that I have fallen in love with and want to give a try at making. There are over 100 quilts pictured in the book and close-up photography of all 112 patterns.

About the author:
Don Beld had a passion for history, which led him to explore all facets of commemorative quilt making. He co-authored Civil War Quilts. He is the curator of the New England Quilt Museum, and founded the Home of the Brave Quilt Project. He also curated a quilt collection commemorating the events of September 11, 2001, and other terrorist attacks. His lectures have helped many people realize that quilters are the folk-art-historians of their time.

So, again, this is a book that anyone who loves history will like, and if you are a quilter, or love quilts, even more so.  I give it an A++ for sure!



Disclosure:  I rec'd this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way, however, this post contains affiliate links.