hi angela. i read posts all over this mqp site...:)) ..decided to wander in to the european group. read your post about there being, basically, a richer quilting history in europe than americans think. this is one american who has been saying that for quite a few years. i love history, i read a lot of history...regardless of the subject matter...i will read all i can on it's history. when i started quilting my first books weren't books of patterns, they were how-to books, and history books. not only is there a rich cultural history of quilting in europe but in other regions of the world too. a lot of the "america did it first" thing in the usa quilting world is, i believe, related to another myth, that "patchwork" originated in the colonies because britain wouldn't allow us to make our own fabric, the cost of imported fabric was so unaffordable, we tore up used clothing to make our bedcovers, and that led to the usual american inventiveness of cutting shapes rather than just sew blocks of one fabric to another. we made stars and all kinds of shapes and patches and patchworked them together. but the books i have on quilting in france, england...history of quilted clothing in china, japan, egypt...

:)) ...there are some americans who know that there is just as rich a quilting heritage in europe and elsewhere in the world as there in our so comparatively young country.

...and now...wait for it ...lollollol ...along will come the comments that patchwork shapes for piecing were unique to american quilting tradition...that the early (1700 - 1800's) were transferred to england by cisitors to our shores or family. oh well...

Happy birthday, Angela~I hope you have a wonderful day!