Franklin Roosevelt's Postage Stamp Quilt

My sister, Kyra Hicks, has a passion for quilts and quilting ... especially as it relates to the Black community. While doing some research of African American newspapers from the 1930s she came across a startling headline: “President Roosevelt Gets Present of Novel Quilt Designed By Indiana Woman.”

Most of us see that headline and keep moving. My sister sees it and begins to ask questions:

1. Who was this Hoosier quilt-maker?
2. What inspired her to gift the President of the United States with a quilt?
3. What was so “novel” about the bed covering that Black newspapers across the country carried its story?
4. Where is the celebrated quilt today?

As she gets answers to these questions a book is born! Follow the surprising pursuit from a WPA Sewing Room in Marion, Indiana to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC and even on to England and France.



Kyra previously shared the true story of a young slave girl’s fifty-year quest to see Queen Victoria and give her a quilt. This time she takes us on a Depression-era adventure featuring exquisite quilts made for Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.