Quilty as Charged: Undercover in a Material World

Gillespie—freelance journalist, avid knitter, novice quilter—has produced a crazy quilt in praise of the million Americans who devote endless hours to creating bedcovers or works of art from small pieces of fabric. Stitched together from her own discovery of the world of competitive quilting at the 2002 International Quilt Festival in Houston and her interviews with a spectrum of quilters, embellished with the frequent sewing pun, the book combines the exuberance of quilters with illustrations of some of their creations. In Part One, Gillespie takes us along on her first attempts at piecework. Part Two presents 16 quilters, including Jote Khalsa, a Sikh in Texas; Belgian fabric artists Inge Marddal and Steen Hougs; and Ricky Tims, the rare man in the quilting world who teaches Caveman Quilting. She tells the story of Dan Puckett, who sold a defective sewing machine to Arlene Blackburn. After she sued him, he threw bleach on her $6,500 quilt at the Quilt Fest and served six months in jail. Some interviews could have been more specific, but as the Amish say when they put deliberate mistakes into their quilts, only God is perfect. Color and b&w photos. (Oct.)