Pieced or patchwork quilts go back to the earliest days in Colonial America. Being practical and frugal quilters they would use every bit of cloth and sew them into patches for quilts. Cotton and wool fabrics adorned their homes in curtains, clothes and quilts. Even old clothes were cut apart and used in patchwork quilts. These pieced quilts were stuffed with wool, cotton, paper or whatever was handy to add warmth. Some of these antique quilts had seeds still in the cotton filler and over the years they stained the quilts. No scrap was left unused.

Pieced or patchwork quilts are quilt tops sewn together with seams created similar to how clothes are sewn. I have noticed over the years that some of my pieced quilts were quite warm to sleep under. The smaller the pieced designs, the more seams created which added to the padding. The trick in patchwork quilts is to keep the top flat after all the piecing is done. Also if you vary your seams even slightly the patches will not fit together properly.

Most of my early quilts are patchwork. I love the geometric designs which first attracted me to quilts. My dreams were filled with these patterns. Even today I can close my eyes and see these early patterns. My log cabin and compass quilts are all pieced. No other art medium can capture patchwork designs like quilts. And the range can be very large or quite tiny like my abstract pieces. Pieced quilts can have a strong geometric pattern or be softened simply by changing the colors. I have only skimmed the surface of pieced patterns. There are still hundreds of patchwork patterns for me to explore and sew.