All the Things

A blog by Holly Papa.

Winter Lights by Anna Grossnickle Hines

by | Nov 26, 2009 | Blog | 5 comments

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In anticipation of Christmas, I selected one of my favorite books. Since it’s so cool and there is more than just Christmas about it, I really wanted to share it. One of my most recent hobby acquisitions is quilting and I was amazed, to say the least, at the beautiful quilts that illustrate this book. My favorite one is a double-page spread of a young child looking out over hills of snow as the sun is setting. The companion poem echoes the feelings my children have when they get home from school only to have, if they’re lucky, an hour to play in the snow before the sun goes down. The poems and quilts weave together to bring warmth and comfort no matter how that wind is blowing outside!

 

This unique way of illustrating a book through pictorial quilts has me in awe of the amazing Hines. Equally impressive are the demonstration pages at the back of the book where she shares how she makes her quilts and brings her books to life.

 

 

I finally have my first quilt finished. It took me two long years to embroider and piece. It was machine quilted by Joyce Ross, an amazing free-hand quilting artist. My boys and I love to curl up with our snowman quilt and read stories together (after they wash their hands of course). We call it our snowman quilt and creating a tradition of reading with a special quilt has my boys excited to snuggle up and read some winter stories together. They know this quilt is special- they’ve seen me working on it forever!

5 Comments

  1. jama

    Beautiful quilt! What a lovely tradition to snuggle up with it and read stories. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Britt, Book Habitue

    Beautiful quilt! And a cool book! I’ll have to keep it in mind for the quilters in my life…

    I tried to like quilting…. didn’t work for me. 😀

    Reply
  3. hollybookscoops

    Jama- Thanks! My boys love this tradition- although it doesn’t necessarily result in a peaceful story read. They do tend to argue over who gets what corner, snowflake, etc. But, kids will be kids.

    Britt- Thank you very much! This is a very cool book and it would make a great gift for the quilters in your life. I’m sure you have many other things that fill your life with fun. I’m not necessarily a die-hard quilter, but this was a great project. I think maybe I’m a die-hard project lover.

    Reply
  4. caribookscoops

    Holly – I love this quilt. I am so impressed and I second your assessment that you are die-hard project fan. The book sounds fantastic as well. I have at least one person in mind who I would give this book to.

    Reply

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