Pieces: A Year in Poems & Quilts

Pieces was published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. The result is exquisite, as the text and the artwork combine to create an unforgettable celebration of the seasons. This children's poetry book has great appeal for both children and adults.

The poetry is written in a variety of forms, but it all, even without the illustrations, paints vivid pictures. For example, in "Good Heavens," Hines describes dandelions on the lawn as "...a thousand suns / and then / a thousand moons / that with a puff / of wind become / a hundred thousand stars." This visual imagery is brilliantly captured in the accompanying quilt. Bright yellow hexagons rest on a lawn of green, with white hexagons moving skyward where white stars shine brightly against the dark blue sky.

Each quilt, which in actuality is about the size you see in the book, is made up of hundreds of pieces of solid and floral patterned fabric. The quality of the book is such that you will instinctively think that if you touch the pages you will actually feel the texture of the quilts.

In her quilts, the artist used such techniques as paper piecing, colorwash and applique, strip piecing, and applique. However, you don't have to know a thing about quilting to appreciate the artistry of Hines' work, although I was curious about how she created her quilts.

Happily, at the end of the book Hines does explain how she created the quilts in a two-page spread, illustrated with photographs. There is also a brief bibliography. According to Hines, who was inspired by her mother's work,

It's all my mother's fault. First, when I was a child, she told me that I should do whatever I wanted to do. Then she started making beautiful quilts.