The Quilt That Walked to Golden: Women and Quilts in the Mountain West-From the Overland Trail to Contemporary Colorado

By Sandra Dallas and Nanette Simonds

Book Overview

Inspiration drawn from letters, journals, historical sources, and--essential vehicles of women's storytelling through the years--quilts fills this narrative re-creation of the history of the West from the time of the early pioneers to the present day. The purpose of quilts and the art of quilting provide a window into the lives of these women, their friendships, and their sorrows. Quilts provided warmth and occasionally served as death shrouds during the gold rush years. They were nailed to the walls and floors of rough-hewn cabins of shanty mining settlements. Quilting bees provided a rare opportunity for female fellowship at the turn of the century. The voice of a masterful storyteller brings to life the heroic and heartbreaking stories of generations of women in this sensitive and artistic portrait.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972121838
• ISBN13: 9780972121835
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Breckling Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent history and quilter's resource

My wife is an enthusiastic quilter and I bought her this book as a gift. It's full of historical detail, anecdotes, and quilting trivia. It's a very satisfying book, with great photos, quilt patterns, and lots of detail. I recommend it highly.

Nostalgia

What a marvelous story! Actually, it is a compilation of stories that are very vividly designed. This is a good history of the West that includes quilts and quilters! Susie Feathers

WOMEN with "real backbone", absolutely a terrific book!

If you like strong, brave women, the old American West, "quilts", and just want to be really proud to be female, this is the book. We have no right to complain about the switch on the microwave, or the too dark toast, etc., makes one feel quilty about the simplicities and pleasure of putting a quilt together today. This book is a "can't put it down" read. The pictures are well worth the cost of the book, THANK you Sandra Dallas.

Pioneer Women Gtitty Literally and Lpiritually

If you like quilting, quilt designs, history, and the American west, you'll be a hog in a mud puddle with THE QUILT THAT WALKED TO GOLDEN by Sandra Dallas and Nordette Simonds. Using photographs, journal entries, pictures of quilts, and quilt designs, the authors present a picture of just how tough pioneer women were. With wagons packed to maximum capacity, many walked west, sometimes wearing all the clothes they owned because they had no room to pack them. When dresses wore out, they got ripped up and saved for quilt squares. But quilts, it turns out, were more than bed covers. They protected wagons, wrapped the dead, bound injuries, and expressed social and political opinions women didn't dare express any other way. THE QUILT THAT WALKED TO GOLDEN is an interesting read because it reminds us that the saying "where there's a will there's a way," might be trite, but it's true. When pioneer women wanted something, they got it--to the best of their ability, and then left us a wonderful record of their personal and social accomplishments in those magnificant covers. An experienced journalist, Dallas draws the reader right into these women's stories. Anybody who thought history books were dry in school ought to read this one. Nanette Simonds adds her own special chapter on contemporary quilting. Fabrics might have changed, but the reasons women quilt, and the uses for quilts remain very similar across time. Kinda comforting, you know?

Showcasing the lives of women who faced the Overland Trail

The Quilt That Walked To Golden is a full-color, coffee-table history book showcasing the lives and struggles of women who faced the Overland Trail to settle the mining and farm communities of Colorado Territory, and especially the role that quilts and quilting had in helping them survive, adapt, and thrive to difficult conditions. From stories of pioneering mothers who wrapped lost children in quilts as burial shrouds, to sewing and quilting circles that offered pleasant ways to socialize and interrupt the incredible lonliness of remote farms and mining camps, The Quilt That Walked To Golden is an enthralling account illustrated with both vintage and full-color photographs. Highly recommended for any enthusiast curious about the history of quilting in America.