When I started thinking about my subject for this year’s MPS Quilt Challenge (25 things) – I realized I wanted this project to have meaning on more than one level. Yes – I wanted to include 25 things in celebration of our 25th Anniversary as a Quilt Guild (a fabulous accomplishment). However, as is my practice for these challenges, I also wanted to use this challenge to express my feelings about something of social importance, a topic I’m passionate about.
I’m a reader. Always have been and always will be. I read at least one – sometimes several books a week – every week. I’m drawn to fiction and non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, how-to books, thrillers, mysteries, cookbooks, and classics. I’ll even admit to a fondness for cozy quick reads that feature either quilting or a bookstore as an integral part of the storyline.
From Shakespeare to Judy Blume, Toni Morrison to Margaret Atwood, and Salman Rushdie to Harper Lee – I’ve gotten lost in the stories of others’ lived experiences and points of view. Through books – I’ve been able to explore ideas, concepts, and lives I would otherwise never encounter in my privileged, “experienced” white, female, college-educated, middle-class, liberal Western state life. My prolific reading has taught me – that there is so much more I don’t know.
One of my guides on this educational journey is Ali Velshi’s Banned Book Club. Airing every weekend and on his podcast of the same name. Velshi sits with authors whose books have attracted the attention of those who choose to decide what books the rest of us will have access to – by banning books they deem “inappropriate.” This segment has introduced me to some amazing authors and wonderful books I might not otherwise have experienced. (Thanks Ali!)
These book-banning literary vigilantes believe they know best what you, I – and all our children should – and should not be reading. I believe they are overstepping (at best) – and, at some level – are literary terrorists – determined to enforce their specific view of the world on the rest of us. How dare they tell any other human being what they should (or should not) be reading.
Book Bans became the perfect topic for my MPS Quilt Challenge project.
Ban Book Bans
The books featured in this project are the first 25 books listed on Ali Velshi’s Banned Book List. Many of the books included on this rapidly growing list – are shocking to me for their inclusion. Who among us didn’t read Romeo and Juliet, Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Handmaiden’s Tale in high school? In preparation for creating this project – I’ve been busy reading the books I haven’t already read. I’m close, but not quite finished with this first group of 25 banned books – but I’m getting there.
That bit of silver that’s framing these 25 books celebrates the silver anniversary of our Quilt Guild. It’s also a reminder that there is always a silver lining – we just need to look for it. The more attention these books get for being banned, the more people like me are drawn to read them.
Notes on the creation of this MPS Quilt Challenge project
Our challenge was to include 25 things – it could be anything at all. Some suggestions were 25 fabrics, 25 lines of stitching, or 25 inches on each side. There were no limits on how to interpret the use of 25 of something in our projects.
The significance of “25”
Our guild (the Metropolitan Patchwork Society) celebrates 25 years in 2024. All year long – we’ve been exploring our origins, sharing stories and hopes for the next 25 years.
Techniques used to create Ban Book Bans
I started by taking screenshots of the book covers and then printing them onto fabric. The images were then fused to a black background. Once the images were fused place, I layered the top, batting, and a layer of medium-weight interfacing (rather than a backing fabric). Using a technique I have been playing with lately – I scribble stitched around the outer edge of each book cover.
Once the quilting was completed, I added a flange border using the silver fabric the guild provided to each member, for use in our challenge projects.
The quilt label was pieced into a black background to match the size of the completed (quilted) front of the project. I added this layer to the back of the quilt front and pinned it together. I did a bit of hidden hand quilting by slipping the needle and thread between the layers, hiding the thread – but securing the backing to the front of the quilt.
Why did I use this hidden quilting technique? I didn’t want the stitching from the front of the quilt to interfere with the look (and content) of the large quilt label on the back of the quilt. I did want the label to be easy to read, and the scribble stitching I used on the front would make reading the label a challenge. “Hidden” quilting seemed to be a great solution.
The Ban Book Bans quilt measures 18 x 22 inches. It was shared with the Metropolitan Patchwork Society Guild members on November 26, 2024.