By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
Ortonville — At 6 p.m., on June 20, the Brandon Township Public Library, 304 South St. will host Michigan author Nancy Bordine for a presentation about her book ‘What Do You See: Developing New Perspectives with Quilt Patterns.’
“The book uses quilt patterns to encourage children to seek inspiration from around them,” said Bordine.
Bordine is a historian, and has worked with the historical society in Traverse City for their live reenactment program for years.
“The adage in writing is write what you know, and I had been the Quilt Lady for our history center here,” she said.
Bordine would teach the fourth grade students about quilting, and how quilts used to be made with scraps from other sewing projects. She said she made the quilts big enough that when all the children were sitting on the rug, she could throw the quilt over them and it would cover everyone.
“We were in our own magical little world under this quilt,” she said. “They could see the colors on the quilt and the purpose they served. We also talked about some of the principals of thermodynamics and how a quilt is constructed to keep you warm at night.”
Bordine also has a large collection of vintage quilts, and would show some designs to the children. One in particular was a double wedding ring quilt, which was made of inter-locking circles.
“This is a really special quilt that the ladies in the community would make for a couple getting married,” she said. “The ladies would all gather at a place where they could work together, called a quilting bee. The interlocking circles meant they wished you a very connected life, that it was a connection that would never end. So if you got this quilt as a present, it came with all the love and well-wishes of the community.”
She thought that writing a children’s book with quilt patterns would get across a message to educate about quilts, inclusion and diversity.
“I made the characters a wide variety of the human genome, there’s diversity all over,” she said. “There’s character profiles in the book that include US history as well. I tried to put different bits of history in the book to spark some curiosity and give parents and teachers a chance to talk about those things in our history.”
After reading the book at her program, the students will then have a chance to color a block and put them all together in a paper quilt. Bordine has a few lesson plans in the book at the end for teachers and parents.