Our book review this month is of a wonderful new book from STC Craft, Quilting for Peace: Making the World a Better Place One Stitch at a Time by Katherine Bell. To read an interview with Katherine, please go to my blog at www.thelastpiece.net

When I first received Quilting for Peace in my mailbox, I was prepared for another one of these little project-y books everyone seems to be writing at the moment. Being kind of a substance girl when it comes to books,  and not really into ten different patterns for placemats, I am a little over some of these books, no matter how beautifully produced and full of cute stuff they are.

This book is not that. It is beautifully produced of course, a la all Melanie Fallick publications  , and beautifully photographed and wonderfully laid out. The patterns are easy to follow and succinct, the projects are simple yet beautiful. HOWEVER. It is not full of bitsy things – rather, this book is full of heart warming stories of how crafting is making the world a better place, and patterns so we can help do just that.

Even if you never helped any of the charities in the book, this certainly should inspire every crafter to get involved in their community and see how easily just a small and simple project can make a huge difference in someone else’s life.

From large charity projects such as the AIDs quilt to small, grassroot community efforts such as The Sunshine Circle, this book tells the story of some of the many, many sewers in the world who stitch to brighten another’s day. When I’m done with it, I plan to donate my copy to the library at my local quilt group, where we produce over 30 quilts for charity every year. I know the girls will make good use of it.

Run out and get this book. It will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye…. and what better book to give yourself or  another crafter for Christmas?

It even has an Aussie in it. You can’t get any better than that! Here’s an excerpt -

Softies for Mirabel

Softies for Mirabel is a holiday toy drive with a twenty-first century twist. The toy animals and dolls are made the old-fashioned way (each “softie” is hand-made and unique), and they’re all donated to a single organization (the Mirabel Foundation in Melbourne, Australia); but the collection effort is digital and international. Pip Lincolne, the organizational force behind Softies for Mirabel, is a craft and blogger who runs an unusually named shop, Meet Me At Mikes,  down the street from the Mirabel Foundation in Melbourne’s Fitzroy neighbourhood.

Pip sells crafts made by young designers just getting started – everything from quilts, clothes and aprons to stationery, jewellery and toys. Named after both Pip’s cat and Mike D. from the Beastie Boys, the store reflects Pip’s crafty, nostalgic sensibility; a mix of retro and modern, handmade and vintage, earnest and ironically hip.

Pip used her blog and her store window to get the word out about her Softies for Mirabel appeal. Meet Me At Mike’s customers and crafter from all over the blogosphere responded to the call and began sending in their unique, handmade toys, everything from cats, dogs and rabbits to llamas, platypuses, tarantulas, robots, monsters and old-fashioned dolls wearing one-of-a-kind clothes. In 2007, the first year of the drive, Softies for Mirabel donated about 240 Christmas toys, “give or take a miscounted bunny”.

To read more about Softies for Mirabel and the other wonderful charities featured in Quilting for Peace, you can go to Katherine’s website, www.quiltingforpeace.com and by the book from your local bookshop or Amazon.

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