Want to make your quilting easier to carry with you? Try the quilt-as-you-go methods that women of the 1800s invented so they could work on small blocks in stolen snatches of time. This quilting approach has many other benefits: It allows shorter sessions for tasks that some find tedious - no more weeklong cutting or piecing marathons. It makes sewing-machine work less cumbersome, makes use of small batting scraps, and doesn't require a frame. Based on research ranging from the women's diaries, to finds at quilt auctions, to clues shared by worldwide quilter chat groups, Portable Patchwork tells stories about the origins of this technique and the creative women who made or owned the quilts. Included are four projects demonstrating different quilt-as-you-go methods, allowing you to master this technique and add your own unlimited variations - just as your foremothers did. AUTHOR: Pamela Weeks is the Binney Family Curator of the New England Quilt Museum. She is a quilt historian and quilter, and coauthor of Civil War Quilts with Don Beld. SELLING POINTS: The only illustrated history of 19th-century potholder quilts, with backstories about the creative women who invented this time-saving method, and projects showing how to adapt it for today's on-the-go crafting Quilt lovers will learn to recognise quilt-as-you-go techniques in old quilts, enjoy the stories behind the quilts, and try the fun projects that bring history into their modern creations Four vintage-inspired projects teach you the method: Briar's Baby Quilt, Aunt Jo's Gift, Red Hexagons, and Add a Block Quilt 290 colour illustrations and patterns.