The Quilting Experience: A Celebration of Community and Patchwork Patterns

by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Meg Cox (foreword)

Genres: Quilting

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 28, 2024

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was making my second quilt (doing everything wrong!) when I learned about a group of quilters who meet weekly. For the next six years I learned through their example as we made quilts together, hand quilting around a quilt frame.

After we moved, I joined a large quilt guild which gave me the opportunity to take classes with nationally known quilt artists. Each move, I found a community of quilters to join. Quiltmaking, it turned out, offered me a supportive community no matter where I lived.

I learned through books and magazines and online resources and groups. Quilt shows offered me inspiration and a vision of what is possible through quilting. As I gained skill, I tried my hand at free cutting shapes, combing unexpected fabrics, trying new techniques.

Victoria Findlay Wolfe was a trained painter when she made her first ‘kitchen sink’ quilt, using fabric scraps, unfinished tops, embroidered linens. The process of making that quilt was very personal and emotional.

That quilt is not just about the designs or how visually appealing it is. It represents the rough and complicated aspects of life–the beauty and terror–and is the most important quilt I have ever made. Victoria Findlay Wolfe on her Kitchen Sink Quilt

This book is Victoria’s gift to quilters, offering a way to design one’s own “kitchen sink quilt” with patterns for the Experience quilt. Each chapter addresses a theme: Identity; Traditions; Comfort and Healing; Aging; Teaching and Lessons Learned; Friendship; Travel; Remembering and Grief; Food; Celebration; and New Adventures.

Along the way, her essays and quotations from quilters will inspire you. Among the quilting life stories shared I saw names of people I knew from online groups.The stories will move you, make you laugh, connect with you.

Remember that the goal of quilting is not perfection, but rather progress and growth. from The Quilting Experience by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Along with the Experience quilt, she shows how to use the blocks for other 11 projects.

This is a book which can be enjoyed on several levels–as a quilt project pattern book, and as a collection of inspiring essays and stories. There are 300 color photographs and complete instructions for the projects.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In February (2025) I will be taking a two-day workshop with Victoria Findlay Wolfe and this book gave me a preview of what to expect. This is more than a book of patterns or directions for making quilts. It is organized by "12 essential life themes," each with a quilt block and vignettes from diverse quilters related to the theme. A book to savor and come back to.

[Kathy England · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of stories about quilters and why they quilt. Lots of beautiful pictures. Lots of block patterns intended for making one large "sampler" type quilt, with a few other patterns made of repeating blocks.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neat designs, great instructions plus conversations with Victoria and other people so that one gets an intimate view of quilting and quilters plus history. I love the patterns - some hard and others easy with great instructions. A winner!!

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about Quilters Save Our Stories. www.qsos.quiltalliance.org

There's a lot more to this big book, but the stories.......they are my favorite!

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that has mixed content and some of it I really liked and some was not to my taste. There are some really inspiring patterns to make quilts here. There are some basic blocks that she has created and then she shows you how to put them together in varied ways, some of which are really great. Her pattern instructions are detailed, include pictures, and are also pretty interesting to me. There are two quilts in this book that I am going to try to make, one of which the author has riffed on quite a bit since this book was written and she has a show at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah that would look familiar to a reader of this book. The book itself is beautifully put together and would look elegant on any coffee table. The part that was less engaging for me was the quotes from many quilters about why they quilt and what it means to them. As a quilter, I get that and it is not why I want to look at books on quilting--I am trying to get ideas for my work and not to understand what motivates others--although maybe it holds interest for those who don't see just how obviously gorgeous fiber art is and can be.