To Honor and Comfort

To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions edited by Marsha L. MacDowell and C. Kurt Dewhurst

208 pages

Started: 27 August 2010
Finished: 29 November 2010

It should come as no surprise that for the letter Q I would pick a book about quilting. I actually had a hard time picking which book I was going to read. I’m glad I picked this one. This book was published in conjunction with a national museum exhibit about quilts in Native American cultures from Hawaii to Alaska to the Southwest to Montana to the Eastern coast. It talks about their history and significance and the role they play in Native American societies today. It is a collection of articles about different styles, traditions, and individual quilters.

It appealed to the quilter in me and the amateur folklorist as well. The quilting represented is absolutely gorgeous. I hope to some day make quilts like those. But I especially loved the stories of how the quilts are used. In many places the star quilt has taken the place of the ceremonial buffalo robe. Quilts are used in honor ceremonies, at naming ceremonies, and at burial ceremonies. Quilts are a way to remember the past. Some quilts are pulled out only for special occasions while in other societies the quilts are made for being used and old quilts have long worn away or been repurposed into newer quilts.

Quilting may be a relatively new art among Native Americans and Hawaiians, but they have taken it and made it their own in so many ways. This is a wonderful book full of stories of life told in quilt stitches.

Since I loved the book so much, you might be wondering why it basically took 3 months to read. That’s because of the size of the book. It’s roughly a 12 inch square book. Which makes for a great layout of the stories and pictures. But makes it real awkward to stuff in my bag and read on the bus, where I do most of my reading.

In the end, this book made me appreciate my quilts even more.

Rating: 10

Alphabet of Books – Q