When a stranger learns that I make quilts I am told stories about grandmothers who made quilts. You can see in their eyes the warm memories they hold dear of sleeping under grandma's quilt, or draping a quilt over a table to build a sleeping tent, or carrying it to some shady park for a picnic. Quilts are made to be used. And they are often used up, like the one my mother-in-law gifted us in the 1980s, sun-bleached with one fabric completely decayed.

Some quilts are so precious they are folded away and stored in a closet or a cedar chest.

Every quilt is also the product of its creator's love of beauty and design, a tactile work of art, the quilter selecting colors and prints and designs.

Quilts can be born out of frugality, using up and preserving, fabrics, like the first quilt my mother-in-law made for my husband to take to college using fabric scraps from curtains and pajamas and clothing she had made. Quilts are no longer items of necessity as during the Depression, a need to repurpose precious fabrics for warmth. But we love fabrics that come with a memory.

Quilts symbolize values held by the maker, from love of family to love of country, from a symbol of healing to a symbol of protest. They represent a choice for the hand-made and the unique over the impersonal and factory manufactured.

Quilts tell a story. Quilts can change our perception. Quilts are comfort. Quilts connect us with each other even when separated by time and space.

Quilts are created for joy, and for protest. They are vehicles for self-expression, sharing what we love and what we fear. Quilts are personal and they are communal. They are to be used today and to be preserved for future generations.

No one description can explain a quilt.
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Thomas Knauer grew up in Amish country, an area associated with quilting, but his first personal encounter with quilts was the AIDS Memorial Quilt, opening his eyes to the many uses quilting can assume. A contract to design quilting fabric finally led him to make his first quilt. Knauer learned first hand of the power of quilts when he gave that quilt to his daughter, whose reaction of excitement and love impelled him to make more quilts.

Knauer's protest quilts make us uncomfortable. Like the Trayvon Martin quilt based on a shooting target, Tea and Skittles and the Sunbonnet Sues carting AK-47s in One Child is too Many. I personally respond to quilts of protest as much as respond to antique quilts or contemporary quilts made to be used.

Why We Quilt addresses the many motivations behind creativity in the quilt world. Artist Statements are illustrated with photographs of the quilter's work. Voice of Quilting offers insights into the most important quilters of today, from traditionalists to innovative art quilters, including Denyse Schmidt, Joe Cunningham, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Lynette Anderson, Mary Fons and Marianne Fons, and Chawne Kimber. Each chapter includes Quilting Vocab Explained, clarifying quilt concepts discussed in the chapter.

Knauer writes with love and emotion of the history of quilting, sharing antique and contemporary quilt photographs.

Each chapter offers a deeper look into the reasons why we quilt:

We Quilt to Connect with a Rich Tradition: The roots of American quilting
We Quilt to Explore and Express our Creativity: The maturation of quilting
We Quilt to Move Beyond Modern Consumer Culture: The Introduction of Standardization
We Quilt to Create a Connection with Loved Ones: Other voices in American quilting
We Quilt to Change the World: The role of signature quilts in reform movements
We Quilt Because We Can--and Because We Cannot Help but Do So: The American Bicentennial and Quilting's great revival

Why We Quilt is a beautiful book. There is a wonderful diversity and range of quilts and quilters. Quiltmakers will find kindred spirits. As a quiltmaker who loves both traditional and antique quilts and contemporary quilts, especially those that address contemporary issues of justice, I found much to enjoy. Each time I open the book I find something to inspire.

I received access to a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

This is a really beautiful and powerful book exploring the multifaceted reasons for why we quilt. Whereas quilts are no longer the material necessity that they once were, why do we continue to engage in an activity which can be financially costly and is time consuming? The reasons are complex and often subjective to the maker yet they all seem to link to the main theme of connections: connections with ourselves, with others, with the world around us, with materials, with the present moment, with our history, and so much more. I love the blend of academic, critical reflections on quilting alongside personal reflections from both the author (Thomas Knauer) and other quilters. The photography is stunning and shows a wide range of quilts, techniques, colours and styles. It is an inspiring, reflective, thought-provoking read. I would have liked more of an international perspective for why people quilt in non-USA locations (such as Europe, New Zealand, Canada). I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in sewing, textiles, patchwork, narratives, history, anthropology, psychology, creativity, arts/crafts and, of course, quilts.

I was given an advanced copy by Net Galley for an honest review.

This book is very interesting, but very hard to follow on a Kindle. I believe the end product will be more like a "coffee table" book to admire. I look forward to seeing the finished hard bound book. I would say this book is a conversation starter about quilting, and not a "how to". book.

Perfect coffee table book. So many stories behind each quilt. All the designers are fantastic and very different artists sharing their inspiration behind their quilts. Beautiful.
At the end of the book there is a list with all the artists websites and blogs. I was so happy to find it. I will definitely follow lots of them, Very inspiring.

This is a book of beautiful quilts! I enjoyed looking at all of the lovely designs and reading the interviews. I love the traditional designs however some of those “free-form”ones just blew me away.
One of the quilts that made me giggle was the Little Dutch Girl toting the gun. 😂. Talk about creative!!
It is interesting to read about why people chose quilting over other crafts.
This is defiantly a book that you would go to over and over again to flip thru.

As an enthusiastic quilter I was delighted to see this book. It was not quite what I expected but the main reason for its conception came across well and resonated with me more than a few times.

The author is a statement quilter, he uses his art to address today's problems while others quilt for the exact opposite reason (me included). The testimonials from both sides of the Atlantic were varied in their explanations as to why they quilt as is to be expected and their offerings were equally different in all but name.

There is a supposed history of need being the mother of quilting in the way bedding was made from what was close at hand. Quilts were sewn together for warmth as pioneers crossed the American wilderness or mothers and grandmothers provided for their families in poorer communities the world over and examples of this are beautiful in their simplicity and complexities. There was however a time when only the wealthy were able to afford the imported fabrics which were the basis for wholecloth quilts and these too are shown in all their splendour.

This is a book to make you think about your own reasons for quilting and how they change as we get more experienced or less hesitant. It also shows that what one person thinks is beautiful and noteworthy is not likely to be universally agreed upon. Some of the examples are of quilts I would love to make or own, others not so much!

This is not a book with patterns, instructions or projects it is instead something to make us consider why we love to do something creative and thinking this through as you sew seems a very good idea to me.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys considering why they create things and whether others agree.

This book was really very interesting. A mix of stunning quilts that are very contemporary. The stories behind the quilts was also very inspiring and very interesting to read after looking at the quilts. Lots of different textiles used for these quilts, with wonderful meanings behind each quilt.

A wonderful "coffee table" book and thrilling read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I don't quilt. As a knitter, I appreciated this "big picture" view of a major American craft. "Why We Quilt" covers just enough of the history of quilting to introduce the reader to this art and craft, while including first-person essays on the many reasons people devote themselves to quilting. I appreciated that quilting is viewed in this book as both an art and a craft. Some quilters engage in this craft as a political statement or as fine art. Others quilt simply to have something quiet and meditative to do in their "down time." All of these reasons are honored in this book. I was inspired by this book to think about taking up quilting, and I certainly gave deeply thought to my own craft of knitting while reading this book.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I thought it would be full of ideas, but there was a lot of reading. There were pictures of some lovely quilts, but I wanted a book that would help me create my own quilt. I’m sure it would interest hardened quilters, but not a novice such as myself.

Excellent book showing quilt as art. Great interviews with art quilters, accompanied by great images of,their quilts.

In Why We Quilt Thomas Knauer presents the reader with pictures of beautiful quilts, historical connections, and personal stories of community and individual quilters. I found the personal stories especially interesting. Quilters will find this to be a valuable book.