A Civil War era quilt is examined in light of the times and is then reproduced into pattern pieces to that all or part of it can be re-created by the reader. Color photographs show individual blocks, the whole original quilt, and some new variations. ( )

Warning: This is a highly opinionated review. The author has an enthusiastic fan club that follows her from one workshop to the next. I am not in that fan club.

During the Civil War, Jane A. Blakely Stickle made an incredible quilt using 225 distinct patterns in small blocks, with very few fabric repeats. The quilt is spectacular; I hope to actually see it someday. This book is less impressive.

The book includes general directions for assembling the quilt, but instructions are not given for assembling the individual blocks. This should not be a major obstacle, because only experienced quilters should attempt this project.

The photos are totally inadequate. The cover photo is interrupted by the book spine, and the full-view photo inside the book is too small to be of much value. If you plan to replicate this quilt, order a copy of the poster from the Bennington Museum.

The photos of individual blocks are very small (under 2"). If you use a magnifying glass to view the blocks, you will discover that the "patterns" for some blocks bear little or no resemblance to the actual block construction. It turns out the author prefers to appliqué, and redrafted some of the pieced blocks to facilitate that preference.

The original hand-pieced blocks varied in size. The author has wisely standardized the blocks, but some of the block photos are tightly cropped, while others include the narrow muslin sashings. This issue is not addressed in the text, and it increases the confusion caused by the redesigned blocks.

These shortcomings are probably acceptable if you want to make a modern quilt inspired by this masterpiece. However, if you have an impressive stash of Civil War reproduction fabric and want to make a close replica, the small photos and the inaccurately drafted patterns will make that process very difficult.

Consider also that beds were smaller in those days. A quilt made using the 4 1/2" blocks patterned in this book will finish approximately 80" square, too skimpy in length for a double bed and undersized in every way for a queen. The author has also produced a pattern CD that runs on Electric Quilt and allows you to re-size the blocks. This is probably a better resource than the book. Using 5" blocks would produce a quilt adequately sized for a queen.

What really set me off on this rant is the fact that most of the book is taken up by the author's "letters" to Jane Stickel. If she wants to indulge in that sort of thing, she should sell her work as quilt fiction (ala the Elm Creek books and that nonsense about underground railroad quilts), or possibly "conversations with dead folks" (assuming such a genre exists). Or at least move all of the "letters" to an appendix to free up space for larger photos of the quilt blocks.

And one final gripe - even the most prolific quilter will take months, if not years, to make a quilt like this. The paperback form of the book does not accommodate the copying of patterns, or the long-term storage of fabric being auditioned for each block. Members of the fan club have developed elaborate methods for improving the usability of the book (e.g. have Kinko's cut off the spine and insert a coil binding, put individual pages into page protectors in a 3-ring binder, etc.) As this book is reprinted, it should be modified so it will lie flat, and the covers should include pockets for fabric storage. ( )