It was also Pat Meguire who told me about another fabulous quilt angle which is bound to fascinate both quilt collectors and history buffs. Seems the beautiful works of art bore in their symbolic piecing such as the arrangement of blooms delivered directions and messages of warning and encouragement to those making their escapes North. Picture a slave simply hanging a quilt out to dry on a line. To those who didn't know, it was just a bed-covering airing out. To those who knew the secret codes in the quilt patterns, the quilt could mean the difference between life and death, hope and helplessness.
Quilts also go to school.
There is nothing like making a cooperative quilt to tie together children's story-writing and topical studies. Take one second grade. The children in Mrs. Hersch's class at Highland Lakes Elementary, Palm Harbor, Fla., wrote a story about their pets. Next in Mrs. Hilterbrandt's art class they illustrated their stories with textile paint markers on squares of cloth. Soon the stories and pictures were pieced and quilted with bright borders.