Katherine Bell, Quilting for Peace: Make the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time

Start: 09/15/2009 7:00 pm

As crafters of all ages take to their sewing machines in unprecedented numbers, many of them join a movement to distribute hope and warmth to those in need through quilting. These are volunteers who have inherited a tradition of comfort and protest, and a belief that they can make the world a better place one stitch at a time.

Quilting for Peace, profiles these quilters in more than 25 essays about individuals and organizations devoted to making quilts and other necessities for the needy. The efforts range from Newborns in Need, a group that makes clothing for premature babies at nearby hospitals; to Quilts of Valor, which makes quilts to honor wounded soldiers; to the Sleeping Bag Project, which distributes 100,000 homemade sleeping bags to the homeless every year. This timely book also includes 15 projects and guidelines for quilters who want to contribute to an existing effort or establish a new one.

Katherine Bell is a writer, editor, and quilter. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2006, and she works as an online managing editor for Harvard Business Publishing. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.