How writers, activists, and artists without power resist dominant social, cultural, and political structures through the deployment of unconventional means and materials In Lives, Letters, and Quilts: Women and Everyday Rhetorics of Resistance, Vanessa Kraemer Sohan applies a translingual and transmodal framework informed by feminist rhetorical practice to three distinct case studies that demonstrate women using unique and effective rhetorical strategies in political, religious, and artistic contexts. These case studies highlight a diverse set of actors uniquely situated by their race, gender, class, or religion, but who are nevertheless connected by their capacity to envision and recontextualize the seemingly ordinary means and materials available to them in order to effectively persuade others. The Great Depression provides the backdrop for the first case study, a movement whereby thousands of elderly citizens proselytized and fundraised for a monthly pension plan dreamt up by a California doctor in the hopes of lifting themselves out of poverty. Sohan investigates how the Townsend Plan’s elderly supporters—the Townsendites—worked within and across language, genre, mode, and media to enable them for the first time to be recognized by others, and themselves, as a viable political constituency. Next, Sohan recounts the story of Quaker minister Eliza P. Kirkbride Gurney who met President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Their subsequent epistolary exchanges concerning conscientious objectors made such an impression on him that one of her letters was rumored to be in his pocket the night of his assassination. Their exchanges and Gurney’s own accounts of her transnational ministry in her memoir provide useful examples of how, throughout history, women rhetors have adopted and transformed typically underappreciated forms of rhetoric—such as the epideictic—for their particular purposes. The final example focuses on the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers—a group of African American women living in rural Alabama who repurpose discarded work clothes and other cast-off fabrics into the extraordinary quilts for which they are known. By drawing on the means and materials at hand to create celebrated works of art in conditions of extreme poverty, these women show how marginalized artisans can operate both within and outside the bounds of established aesthetic traditions and communicate the particulars of their experience across cultural and economic divides.

You’ve got something unique to tell the world. What better way to get your message across than sewing your words into a quilt? Fiber artist and quilt designer Sam Hunter teaches you to say it all with 12 new projects featuring modern, paper-pieced text blocks. The book includes patterns of an easy-to-read font that includes lower- and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Sam covers everything you need to know about paper piecing, choosing fabrics, and designing your own quilted words. Use Sam’s designs to get started, and then stitch up your own words to give any occasion the ultimate personal touch.

Mary Black's Family Quilts includes a foreword by Michael Owen Jones, Professor of Culture and Performance, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Craftsman of the Cumberlands: Tradition and Creativity.

Create quilts with simple designs, strong lines, and a modern aesthetic. With this innovative collection, popular blogger and designer Julie Herman, the owner of Jaybird Quilts, inspires you to create stunning quilts--without borders! Choose from 15 easy quilt patterns where design is the star and fabric is the supporting actor Learn the structure of a borderless quilt; explore various bindings and their effect on the overall look See what can be done when color is used in bold ways to support a borderless quilt design

Touched by the tender, real-life letters of Jacob and Emeline Ritner, a husband and wife separated by the Civil War, author Becky A. Wright shares quilt patterns based on captivating stories the couple shared. Tales of the battlefield, news from the home front, and love maintained through nearly four years of separation are captured in 11 antique-style designs, perfect for reproduction fabrics. Excerpts from Jacob and Emeline's letters--the only complete set of Civil War letters known to exist--shed light on the inspiration behind each quilt, giving you a sense of what life was like for everyday people during the Civil War.

"Make tomorrow's family heirlooms in today's favorite fabrics. · 19 cozy projects include pillow, tote bags, table runners, and larger quilts · Lots of quick and easy designs that make great gifts · Give a modern look to some of Grandmother's favorites: hexagons, stars, snowballs, and Dresden Plates"--Page 2 of cover.

Be Inspired by the Stories The 1922, The Farmer's Wife magazine posed this question to their readers: "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, have her marry a farmer?" The magazine at the time had 750,000 subscribers, and received over 7,000 letters. The best answers to this question are included in this book, along with the traditional quilt blocks they inspired. Laurie Aaron Hird provides everything you need to be inspired and create your own sampler quilt: • 111 six-inch quilt blocks, with assembly diagrams for piecing the blocks and template cutting directions • Complete instruction for making a sampler quilt in any traditional size: lap, twin, queen or king • Download access to easy-to-print, full-sized templates for all 111 blocks, and printable quilt construction diagrams • 42 letters from the 1922 Farmer's Wife contest to give you a priceless glimpse into our country's past