Pieces ~ A Year in Poems and Quilts

This week’s post includes a story that I hope you’ll find interesting ~ and it definitely has a quilting connection 😊:

My church supports many missionary families throughout the world and this past Christmas our pastor invited members to “adopt” one of these families. This simply meant we would send them notes of encouragement, birthday cards, etc. The family we chose lives in Hong Kong and is made up of dad, mom and two little girls. I enjoy sending them monthly letters with stories about my family, our dog (the girls love that) and my quilting. After sending them my first few letters I received an email from mom (Susie) asking if I’d ever read the picture book Pieces by Anna Grossnickle Hines.

She said she’d taken it out at their library in Hong Kong and the girls loved the pictures and the poems. Then she realized it was all about quilts, and she knew she had to tell me. I made a mental note to go to my library, but then forgot (the story of my life lately).

This dear family recently came back home to Wisconsin for a visit ~ and we all got to meet. We invited them over for lunch and a swim during the week my grandkids were visiting from Washington State.

Susie asked me what the girls should call me and Mike and I responded, as we usually do with kids at church, “we’d love to be called Grandpa Mike and Grandma Chris”. It’s such fun to have additional grandkids!

We were captivated by their stories of life in Hong Kong and it was a wonderful visit. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was when Susie gave me a copy of Anna’s book ~ what a treasure!

After they left I thumbed through it and landed on a beautiful page with poems entitled Silhouettes and Shadows. That’s the name of the new lecture I’ll be presenting at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in September. What a coincidence! These are Anna’s quilts and poems from that part of the book

I had to sit down and read the entire book right then and there. Anna’s poetry is amazing, and at the end of the book she includes 3 pages about the stories behind the quilts. Anna had written the poetry about the seasons and nature over many years. She came to a point where she thought the poems would be lovely with quilts as the background in a book, and decided to learn to quilt to bring this lovely book to life. Her mother is a quilter and encourager, and a wonderful part of the story. I was amazed at Anna’s skill not only as a poet, but as a quilter too! I think Pieces is a must read for every quilter, and all the children in their lives.

After reading it I couldn’t wait to visit Anna’s website and I discovered I’ve read some of her books to my grandchildren! Anna’s website is as delightful as her books (click here to visit her site), and at the end of her story about the writing of Pieces (click here for that link) there was a photo of the printers who were printing her book in… Hong Kong!

Another coincidence! I knew I had to write Anna to ask permission to feature her work in a blog post, and this was her response:

“Hello Chris,

What a sweet story! I am always delighted to hear that one of my books has touched another heart, and you’ve given me news of several being touched. How fun that you had read some of my other books to your grandchildren! 

You certainly have my permission to share any images from my books or website. I’m sorry it isn’t in better shape, but since I’m retired, and the software with which I created it no longer functions, I no longer maintain it. Still, if a few more people find something to enjoy in my work, that is good news. 

All best to you and to Susie and her family, Anna”

I do hope you’ll read all about her books on her website, and I highly recommend purchasing a copy of Pieces for yourself.