Next week, we'll look at the book's setting, and I'll provide links for block patterns that go with the setting.
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| Friendship Star Variation Quilt Block |
Friends and I are reading and discussing The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas and then each making a quilt block to represent it. I'm calling my quilt my "Curl Up with a Good Book Quilt." We'd love to have you join us!
There is an overriding theme of friendship found in this book - in particular, friendship among women. I searched the internet and found several free block patterns to go along with this theme:
Friendly Hand: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendlyHandBlock.html
Friends Star: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendsStarBlock.html
Friendship Name Chain: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendshipNameChainBlock.html
Friendship Scrap: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendshipScrapBlock.html
Friendship Star: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendshipStarBlock.html
Friendship Star Variation: http://www.quilterscache.com/F/FriendshipStarVariationBlock.html
Right Hand of Friendship: http://www.quilterscache.com/R/RightHandofFriendshipBlock.html
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| Friendship Square Quilt Block |
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| Friendship Scrap Quilt Block |
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| Friendship Star Variation |
I don't belong to a weekly quilting bee like Queenie does. But I do belong to two monthly quilting groups. The first group is a small group of seven who've been meeting together for years. We meet once a month on a Tuesday night at a member's home. She has a wonderful set-up in her basement that can accommodate all of us. We eat, visit, and sew and have a wonderful time together. We actually call ourselves The Persian Pickles!
I also belong to a local branch of The Modern Quilt Guild. We meet once a month on Saturday for a meeting, lunch, and then a sew-in. While my first quilting group is made of women my age, the guild is multi-generational with young women, busy mamas, and grandmas. Four babies attended our November meeting, including twins! Some women are relative newcomers to quilting while others have been at it for years.
I also have a wonderful on-line quilting community that I can access all hours of the day and night. Someone is always available for advice, opinions, encouragement, and even prayer. I love this aspect of quilting. It's a wonderful time to be a quilter!
We'd love to have you join our free, on-line Quilter's Book Club! Check out the book from your local library and join in the discussion. (Feel free to just read and discuss the book or just make a quilt block or both.) I love the idea of a book club that's multi-cultural and multi-generational, with a love of quilting and books that binds us all together.
Question: The members of The Persian Pickle Club provide friendship and a great deal of support to one another. Where do you get your encouragement and support as a quilter? as a person?
Next week, we'll look at the book's setting, and I'll provide links for block patterns that go with the setting.
You might also enjoy reading my previous Quilter's Book Club blog post:
Persian Pickle was the first quilty book I read years ago. I loved the friendship and group problem solving. At the revealing point I laughed out loud, never expecting that development! It still makes me chuckle! So glad you are doing this book club. As a reired 2nd grade teacher, I share your passion for reading also. I belong to 2 guilds, a Jo Morton group, a scrappy group and sew every Thursday with my sisters and sister-in-laws. We seven call it Sisters' Sew. A lot of inspiration, support, and problem solving going on!
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy that you love quilting and reading, too! And how fun to have a group made up of your sisters and sister-in-laws!
DeleteI love the Persian Pickle Club, it's one of my all-time favorite books! I've read it so many times and I love what Sandra said about it once when I saw her speak, "I'm 90% certain that the person you think did it, did." She is so witty and funny. So glad you had that great opportunity! I'm happy to be reading along!
ReplyDeleteI think I've read The Persian Pickle Club at least four times, and I enjoy it every time. So happy that you are reading along with us!
DeleteI borrowed THE PERSIAN PICKLE CLUB from the library. I liked it enough to want it in my own library. I plan to buy it.
ReplyDeleteI belong to a number of quilt groups... 6 ..(4 of them are appliqué groups) ... And one large guild. The groups meet monthly and the Guild semi monthly. Most of my friends are quilters and we are there for each other. My support comes from them and my hubby and then my wonderful fur babies (4 rescue dogs) who are always with me crowding into my sewing room so that it's difficult to move.
It's good that you have others to quilt with who are also supportive of you. We puppysat our grandpuppy a month ago, and I can see the appeal of a loyal dog (in your case, dogs!) who wants to be wherever you are.
DeleteThe book is now on my "to read" list. I'm sure i will love it.
ReplyDeleteMy "International Quilters of Tokyo" has lately fallen apart. We used to meet two Friday's a month in one of the member's homes, taking turns. Now my house is too small and another member has opened a tea house and is busy there, two members are sitting young grand-kids, and a few have dropped out because they don't like some other member.
Meanwhile the American School mothers I am working with now are all about the age of my kids and I love that group. We feed on each other.
I also have to admit that my blogging buddies are over the top!
I love your star. Do you think all the block designs will work in just two colors?
Julie, I plan to find several blocks that go with each book, so people have a choice. I am making each of my blocks in two colors only - red and white - so I'm sure that with each book there will be at least one block that will work in just two colors. I bet you're a wonderful addition to your American School mothers group!
DeleteI have quilted simple quilts and tied comforters for my daughters and grandchildren in past years. I also like to knit, which I have been doing since childhood and knit many sweaters, etc for children and grandchildren. Now my knitting times are mostly dedicated to Prayer Shawls, a ministry in my church. These go to persons needing comfort -loss of a spouse, serious illness, etc, or of joy on the birth of a baby. As we knit, we pray for health, warmth and comfort of the recipient. Or we pray for blessings on the new baby or whatever occasion we are celebrating. We share a special friendship and pray for each other during difficult times we may be experiencing. I read and loved the Persian Pickle Club several years ago and love it. Sandra Dallas is a wonderful author. I have enjoyed all of her books. Roselyn George
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful when a group can do such good for people and also be supportive of each other. I know that your Prayer Shawl ministry has provided comfort to so many people.
DeleteI haven't heard of The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas before now, but you have me interested. I need to check for it at the library! great idea to make a quilt block inspired by your reading! :)
ReplyDeleteWe'd love to have you join us, Allison! Just get the book at the library and start reading. I'll post about the book and potential quilt blocks every week for the next month.
DeleteI used to belong to a quilt guild and was a member for many years. I really loved the women and belonging to the guild. The group got older and kind of stagnant, so I decided that my time was better spent quilting at home. About that time, I also belonged to a weekly quilt group of about 10 women of all ages. I loved this group of women and looked forward to Wednesdays. (That was the day we met.) As the older ladies aged, their health became a big issue for them and getting to our meeting place. After one member went back to work, another one opened a quilt store, another member just quit coming, etc., our group dismantled. It was sad to no longer get together with these women as they were a huge source of inspiration and friendship to me. I would love to join another small quilting group, but have not be able to find one in our town.
ReplyDeleteI know it can be hard to find a quilting group that works for you. I would love to have you be part of this group! I'm excited to see what can happen when quilters who love to quilt and read come together from all over the world. I hope we can have some great discussions and encourage one another in our craft as well as in our lives.
DeleteI saw your post about the book club and BOM that goes with the book.
ReplyDeleteI thought this would be fun to do this year. I have many UFO's, but I have a plan to get them paired down. I love to read,I think I read this many years ago, but why not again?
I belong to a quilt guild that has a meeting on the even months and activity day on the odd months. It is a 2 hour drive, but we car pool.
My friend and I have 2 longarms and fabric shop. This keeps us very busy.
Pam, welcome! We'd love to have you join us! It sounds like you are a busy quilter. So glad you want to make time to be part of the group.
DeleteI am a retired wife, mother, and grandmother who loves to sew, quilt, knit, and read. I've not been reading much for the last 6 months, but I am ready to start reading again. I go to the library once a month and like to pick out several different styles of books. I had encouragement growing up from my grandmother (mostly scrap quilts) and my mom (mostly making clothes). Both products of the Great Depression. I remember both my grandma and my mom relining the inside of their wool coats. I, too, grew up in Kansas. Emporia, not a big town, but also not a small town. I'm so glad I found this group!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the group! We're so happy you found us! My parents actually met in Emporia. They were both teaching school there. And I was born in Emporia but lived in Osage City the first few years of my life. You might want to check out the posts about my Farmer's Daughter Sampler Quilt. (Look at the right of my blog under Labels.) I made the blocks to go with my grandmother's 1916 diary, written the year she turned 21. She grew up in Olivet and Emporia and graduated from Emporia High School.
DeleteThis was a great book with a great ending. Each character was unique in her own right, and I guess I identified most with the quiet ones who rarely spoke up until it was absolutely necessary. My opinion of the main character kept changing as I read--at first at thought she was too critical to the point of being unkind to other members of the group. But later she shows much empathy in befriending the new member of the group. In the end she redeems herself with her loyalty and love for all the Picles. She is always funny, however. I was struck by the hard times under which these quilters persevered. How many of us today would be quilters if all we had to use were scraps from overalls, blankets, and dyed feed sacks? Bonnie
DeleteI think quiltmaking is in large part about being creative and having something that lasts. Meals prepared get eaten, clean dishes get dirty again, toilets need to be cleaned again and again. When a quilt is completed, it lasts a long time. And quilting with others provided friendship and support with other women. But I do love working with beautiful fabrics, so I don't know how I'd feel about using scraps from overalls, blankets, and dyed feed sacks!
DeleteOh what fun! I am relatively new to quilting having only begun a little over 2 years ago. My husband and I recently moved to a new locale, knowing almost no one. It was a difficult transition since I am very much a people person. On a chance trip to the local library to get a library card, I came upon their display of local quilters' works!!! Discovering that a group met at the library every Monday morning, I almost fell to my knees sobbing....I had found sisters!! They are a most ecclectic group, but sweet and kind and most welcoming. They are part of a larger quilt guild, the Ohio Stars Quilt Guild, NQA #131, established in 1981. As soon as I can, I will get the March book, unless you think I might have time to jump in with the Persian Pickle Club.
ReplyDeleteYippee....the same above library had both books, Feb.'s The Persian Pickle Club & Mar.'s A Single Thread on the shelves! So I am good to go. So now to begin reading and making blocks. Thank you for this.
DeleteThis is a very relaxed group. You can jump in anytime. I'm so happy that your library had both books on the shelves.
DeleteMama T., how wonderful for you to have found both a quilting group and friendships when you were going through such a difficult time. We are so excited to have you part of this group!
DeleteJust so you know, Mama T., you are definitely part of the book club!
DeleteMamaT, small world. I'm in Toledo Ohio. No matter where we go there are always quilters to welcome us.
Deletei just joined this group so i really don,t know how this group works ,iam a quilter who enjoys sewing and quilting i started quilting several years ago when i was working at a high school kitchen, our teacher was a lady name mickey who loved quilting and our head leader in the kitcken ask us all ladies if we like to sew and that she was starting a quilting class and if we did to sign up for a class ,well i had been sewing some but not any thing like making a blanket i just sewed for fun to make things for my home or clothes for my kids when there were young,well i fell in love with quilting and have been quilting since off and on because i was working and in my spare time i would quilt.now i have all the time to sew or quilt but i can,t because of surgery,s i,ve had to have on my neck,right shoulder and lower back surgerys,so when im not in pain i go to my sewing machine and try to make some projects but i work very slow and take a few breaks when sewing.i know i need to keep myself busy and sewing and quilting helps some times
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the group, Nellie! In this book club, we read and discuss one book a month. Then we each make a quilt block related to the book. Over the month's time, I will provide several different quilt blocks for you to choose from. I will also provide a link to each pattern, which will always be found free on the internet.
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