Quilting Book

Discover the history of Alberta quilts and the quiltmakers who made them

Now widely available! Purchase today in-person or online through the Royal Alberta Museum Shop

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Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts
Hardcover—$59.95 
By Lucie Heins

This 176-page beautifully illustrated hard-cover volume represents many years of research dedicated to the history of Alberta quilts and is an important contribution to the history of quilts in Canada.

About Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts

When Selma Nelson was not cooking for her husband and his crew of men who built the railroad from Camrose to Kelsey, she was piecing her Crazy quilt outside her tent. Katherine Hittinger worked through the pain of her arthritis to quilt bedcovers for her eight children, all the while teaching piano, and maintaining a 600-egg incubator to pay for groceries. Lawrence Jackson, an oilfield worker by day, made a baby quilt by night while his pregnant wife, Ima, was bedridden. These and other examples in this book demonstrate the importance of quilting to the people and history of Alberta.

As part of the Alberta Quilt Project, Lucie Heins spent six years researching and documenting Alberta quilts. She partnered with 38 museums throughout the province to host public quilt documentation events. Assisted by local quilters, she was able to collect important information about the quilts made in Alberta as well as to capture the histories of the quiltmakers themselves.

Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts highlights late 19th century quilts, 20th and 21st century quilts found across the province, with a focus on quilts made during the 20th century. It includes 12 in-depth stories about individual quiltmakers and 12 wide-ranging chapters featuring many quilts around specific themes. Together, they reveal how quilters used their ingenuity for making quilts using materials on hand to stitch relationships to their families and communities. In this book, you can discover the fabric of Alberta’s history, one quilt at a time.

• Book Details & Specs
  Title: Alberta Quiltmakers and Their Quilts
  Format: Hardcover
  Product dimensions: 12″ x 12″
  Pages: 176 pages
  Published: January 27, 2022
  Publisher: Friends of Royal Alberta Museum Society
  Language: English
  Appropriate for ages: All ages
  ISBN: 978-1-7777395-0-8

Video Preview of Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts with Lucie Heins

About the Author

Lucie Heins is the Assistant Curator for the Daily Life & Leisure program at the Royal Alberta Museum. She has a BSc.MA. in Human Ecology, majoring in clothing and textiles. Lucie has also worked on projects at the Textile Museum in Washington DC, and in Haifa, Israel, attending to the textile collection at the Baha’i World Centre under the care of the Department of Holy Places.

Lucie began researching the history of Alberta quiltmakers and quilts in 2010. The first three years, Phase I of the Alberta Quilt Project, was spent surveying Alberta quilters to capture 21st century quilting trends. Lucie presented the results of her research at the British Quilt Study Group Annual Seminar. It was subsequently published in their peer-reviewed journal Quilt Studies (2017).

For the following six years, Phase II, Lucie engaged 38 museums, throughout the province, to host public “quilt documentation” events to help capture the history of quilts. The research collected through this process informed her book, Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts, addressing the gap in Canadian literature on the history of Alberta quilts.

Press for Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts

Globe and Mail: Stitching together Alberta’s history: Quilts capture the untold stories of the quilters who made them, published March 25, 2022

St Albert Today: New book explores fabrics of time, published March 20, 2022

CBC Edmonton AM: What stories are hidden in decades of Alberta-made quilts, aired January 18, 2022

About the Publisher

Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts is proudly published by Friends of Royal Alberta Museum Society (FRAMS). FRAMS is a registered charity and not-for-profit membership organization. FRAMS supports the Royal Alberta Museum in a variety of ways — most importantly through telling Alberta’s stories. From sponsorship to artifacts, we now add publishing to the list of things we do.

FAQ

• Where can I find Alberta Quiltmakers and their Quilts?

  The book is available through retailers throughout Alberta. You can purchase it from the Royal Alberta Museum Shop (Edmonton, Alberta) in person or the online RAM Shop. 

• How do I place a wholesale order?

  Email us at info@frams.ca and we can provide more information about wholesale orders.

• What is your return policy?

  If you purchased a copy directly from FRAMS and if for any reason you are unhappy with your purchase, we will gladly accept its return within 14 days of delivery in its original condition and packaging with proof of purchase and we will process a full refund back to the original payment method. In the case of the receipt of a damaged book promptly notify us with a description of the damage (or a picture), return the book and you will be provided with a replacement.

  The cost of shipping returned items will be the responsibility of the customer. Refunds will be processed once the item has been returned to us in its original condition and packaging.

• I'd like to know more or I have further questions!

  We’re happy to assist you! Please email us at info@frams.ca.