If you can find one, spread a quilt pieced in a Block design on the floor, ask students to sit around the edges. If you cannot locate a real quilt, you can still do this discussion using photos from books in our book list.
Write student responses to the following questions in an 'idea cluster'.
Who would like to describe what we're sitting around?
Let's list all the words we can think of to describe this quilt.
Do you see any shapes more than once?
Can you see the pieces that were made over and over again? This is called the Block Design and when the quilter sews many of blocks together they create a pattern.
This book is titled With Needle and Thread, it's written by Raymond Bial. It has great photos of quilters at work and it will explain how quilts are put together.
Show photo opposite title page
Here's an example of a crazy quilt , can you find the Blocks? Does the design repeat?
Read Dedication-show photo
Here's a quilter at work stitching the layers together, what tools is she using?
Read Author's Note - Last paragraph can be omitted
Show Photos/read captions page 10-11
What is the pattern Block that is repeating in this quilt? Look very carefully, you may be fooled. (Draw on board to illustrate)
The quilter who made this quilt turned the pattern block as it was repeated and it created a very different kind of quilt.
Show photos/read pages 12-13
Show photos/read pages 14-15
Show photos/read pages 16-17
Show photo/read caption page 2
Can you see the pattern in this quilt does it remind you of any other quilt we've seen?
Compare quilts on pages 10 and 21.
This is the same Block as the quilt on page 10, it's only repeated, not turned. It looks very different.
Show photos/read page 26
Show photo/read caption page 27
Show
two quilts from Quilt Reference Books to illustrate the effect a color
change on a Block design can have can on the design of the quilt. Log
Cabin Quilts are good to show this.
on to Ozella's quilt code story
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