Carol hails from Lawrence, Kansas, and is a good friend of Barbara Brackman. Carol’s quilts have appeared in numerous publications (at least eight times in Quilter’s Newsletter). Her book, Tile Quilt Revival: Reinventing a Forgotten Form, written with Bobbi Finley, was published in 2010. Carol occasionally writes about tile quilts at carolgilhamjones.blogspot.com.

What are tile quilts? In the last third of the 19th century, there was a distinctive genre of appliqué quilts made with narrow lines of background fabric showing between the appliquéd pieces. Because the narrow lines of background fabric resemble “grout” and the appliquéd pieces “tiles,” these quilts generally are called tile quilts.

“Tile Quilts: Then and Now” Lecture and Trunk Show of contemporary tile quilts: Saturday, May 19, at Grace Church

Carol will tell us all about tile quilts, from their beginning in the 19th century to modern times, and she’ll share a wonderful selection of contemporary tile quilts.

Half-Day “Making a Tile Quilt Block” Workshop: Saturday, May 19, at Grace Church. Limit: 20 students. Cost: $25 for Wiltwyck members ($30 for non-members). No sewing machine required.

In this hand appliqué workshop, you’ll begin your own tile quilt with a 10-15” block that you’ll prepare and begin to stitch. Emphasis will be on how a tile quilt differs from other types of appliqué and how to get started making a tile quilt rather than on how to appliqué. Fusing and machine appliqué will be touched on, in addition to hand appliqué, if there is interest. Carol will also discuss fabric choices and the use of large-scale contemporary prints in updating the traditional tile quilt form.

You’ll learn the block-preparation method, a simple, direct way of working from a line-drawing pattern. This eliminates the usual hand-appliqué concerns of seam allowances, reversing images, and placement on the background. Carol will provide a pattern, or you can use a line drawing of your making of choice.