Teaching Mathematics through Cultural Quilting

My granny was a great one for quilting. She had this big flour sack full of scraps. Squares and triangles and diamonds and stripes, all colors. Soft shiny pieces of Mam's petticoats. Rough scratchy pieces from Pap's work pants” (Howard 1996, p. 1). Stories of quilts can be as comforting to children as quilted bed coverings. Quilt stories are found in children's books and in the quilts themselves, which can help unravel stories about real people that quilts have pieced together. Quilts have been made by all socioeconomic levels and all ethnic groups in America, making them valuable historical and artistic artifacts that tell stories of the past. Quilting is sometimes called “memory's art.”