Tag Archives: art

Still time to slip under tree… and send heartfelt thanks to those Amazon reviewers!

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LONG LIVE EARTH title pagebuy book, read reviewsLONG LIVE EARTH p. 4\

*****Charming, Colorful and Creative Book for Children on Caring for the Earth

By L.M. Keefer TOP 100 REVIEWERER, VINE VOICE on December 10, 2013
Format: Paperback

If you are looking for a charming, colorful and creative book to teach children about taking care of our earth, this book delights. The illustrations embody the philosophy: they are quilt squares, making use of unused fabric. Each illustration is imaginatively conceived and stitched. Children will have fun talking about what they see in the squares. The illustrations are quite winsome…(read entire review here).
 big heart
By Woolwoman on December 10, 2013
Format: Paperback Amazon Verified Purchase

The artistry it took to make the quilt squares would make the book worth buying. However, I am (reluctantly) giving the two I ordered away to young grandchildren for Christmas. The message is important, and it is presented beautifully and gently.
big heart
By Kathleen Hagerty on December 9, 2013
Format: Paperback Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this for my almost 4 year old son and for his classroom. This was a complex topic that was made very understandable and fun to read. The patchwork squares as illustrations were adorable, clever and so creative. I will be buying this book as gifts in the future.
big heart
Order Long Live Earth and read more reviews here.

I can’t watch this without crying. 100 Good Wishes Quilt – The Virtue to Sustain Love and Environment.

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I decided to illustrate Long Live Earth with fabric scraps because quilting is an age old form of recycling.  For whatever reason I tended to think of quilting as mainly an American labor with images coming to mind of bonneted pioneer women, log cabins and Pa Ingalls in his red long johns. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth.  The earliest known quilt dates back to the Pharaoh of the Egyptian First Dynasty, about 3400 B.C.

The other day I stumbled upon this little movie short called 100 Good Wishes Quilt – The Virtue to Sustain Love and Environment which I can’t seem to watch without crying.

In northern China there is a centuries old tradition of creating a “Bai-Jia-Bei”, otherwise known as a “100 Good Wishes Quilt”.  One hundred family and friends donate a piece of fabric along with a written wish. The wish can be anything: a quote, a poem, a saying or a simple wish from the heart.  The fabric scraps are then stitched into a quilt by the child’s mother or another elder and given to the child along with the wishes.  The quilt literally wraps the child in good wishes and represents the virtue to sustain love and environment.  The Bai-Jia-Bei is then passed down through the generations.  Isn’t that beautiful?

 

Long Live Earth’s Amazon Top 50, Vine Voice, 5 Star Review *****

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Page-26-BigHeartI am feeling very humbled.  Twenty years on I had hoped that people would still be appreciative of the topical message and patched up illustrations of Long Live Earth’s Anniversary Edition.  But I never expected reviews like these last few.  Here is the most recent review from a true blue Top 50, Vine Voice Amazon reviewer.  Wow.  Many heartfelt thanks to L.M. Keefer:

*****5.0 out of 5 stars 
Charming, Colorful and Creative Book for Children on Caring for the Earth,
December 10, 2013
This review is from: Long Live Earth (Paperback)

If you are looking for a charming, colorful and creative book to teach children about taking care of our earth, this book delights. The illustrations embody the philosophy: they are quilt squares, making use of unused fabric. Each illustration is imaginatively conceived and stitched. Children will have fun talking about what they see in the squares. The illustrations are quite winsome.

The book is brimming with actionable ideas on what children can do to take care of our beautiful earth: waste less, use non-chemical sprays, don’t litter, take the train or bus when you can, plant a garden, recycle etc. The book can be a catalyst for an adult to think together of ideas with a child on how to take care of the earth. It would also be wonderful in a classroom to think of a class project on how they can care for the earth. Then, for an art activity, the students could create a patchwork square of their own out of collage materials to illustrate something they love about the exquisite earth that is worth preserving. The squares could be placed together on a bulletin board. When I taught preschool and elementary classes, I would ask design stores for any leftover wallpaper books and use the wallpaper for art projects as the wallpaper was patterned like fabric but could be glued instead of stitched.

For parents who care about cultivating a care for the earth in their children, this book enchants. It has depth. The author wrote in the forward that some years ago she was looking for a book to teach her son care for the earth. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, she wrote this book and stitched the quilt squares. She has designed textiles for the home furnishings industry, exhibited her award winning art internationally and studied art at Parsons School of Design and Boston University. The art is truly fetching. Quilters and home schools would appreciate this book, too.

Just saying… thank you.

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Most of the give-away winners have received their copies of Long Live Earth (yeah!) but some are still waiting (boo!).  A sincere apology to those still waiting… you have not been forgotten and I sincerely thank you for your continued patience.

Also, a big thank you to give-away winner JC for his hat’s off to the stitched illustrations and to fellow Goodreads author Kat Ward for her thoughtful review of Long Live Earth:

Kat Ward  Amy's Own

“Long Live Earth not only has a most pertinent message, but the artistic work in the quilts made by the author are impressive. Her rhyming is sweet, funny, silly, and potent, yet easy enough for toddlers and young kids to understand. It should be in every elementary school library and classroom and on every home bookshelf. It’s a feel good book encouraging kids to care and take action without being preachy. Its bright colors and wonderful quilt pictures made it a must read for my girl when she was young (and now she’s a committed environmentalist at 15 years old; just saying).”
Thanks, Kat!  If you haven’t got a copy of Kat’s book Amy’s Own yet, I hope you’ll join me and grab one.