A featured book for April is "Cotton Theory Quilting" by Betty Cotton and it comes with a DVD that demonstrates the technique. This is book one of the Cotton Theory Series and is new to our library.

Betty Cotton invented this theory in 2001 and received a patent for it in 2004. Cotton Theory projects are quilted first, one segment at a time, and then assembled using Betty's fold-and-finish procedures. She claims this Cotton Theory makes quilting easy, no matter the size of the quilt, and the completed project is reversible. Quilted embroidery, bobbin work, and three-dimensional finished seams are part of this technique.

The library's featured book for this month is "Carrie Hall Blocks" by Bettina Havig. It contains 800 historical quilt block patterns both pieced and appliquéd. These blocks were made between 1900 and 1935, and are housed in the Spencer Museum in Kansas.

Carrie Hall got the "quilting bug" in the late 1920s and wanted to make a quilt block sampler of every known pattern. About 40 friends helped her collect these patterns/blocks.

This is the second book published about her efforts to display her collection. The first one, titled "The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America," was published in black and white and became a reference for quilt makers.

In this book, the blocks are shown in color, and have a designated name and size. Patterns and templates are shown for some of the blocks in the back of the book. What a legacy this quilter left for us!