Bring balance to your life in the marriage of beauty and function! From selecting fabrics to threading the needle to piecing together your project, the steps you take to create a beautiful quilt will allow you to calm your mind and bring harmony to your life. Master quilter Sandra Detrixhe shares what she's learned through years of creating art out of scraps of cloth: Quilting is a type of meditation. It's both absorbing and mind-freeing. Sandra and several of her colleagues relate stories about the quiet, mindful experience of quilting--choosing fabrics with a purpose in mind, adding pieces with special meaning, and finding a community of quilters. Each chapter includes a suggested activity that will show you how to find peace in the process. You'll soon be able to turn every minute you spend patterning, basting, and binding into enjoyable, mindful moments. With Zen and the Art of Quilting, you'll learn your wonderful, handmade quilt isn't the craft's only reward. The meditative practice of making your lovely new piece is something to be treasured as well.

Religious pluralism has characterized America almost from its seventeenth-century inception, but the past half century or so has witnessed wholesale changes in the religious landscape. Gods in America brings together leading scholars from a variety of disciplines to explain the historical roots of these phenomena and assess their impact on modern American society.

In this engaging and disarmingly frank book, comic Jay Sankey spills the beans, explaining not only how to write and perform stand-up comedy, but how to improve and perfect your work. Much more than a how-to manual Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy is the most detailed and comprehensive book on the subject to date.

By merging Zentangle with free motion quilting, you'll learn to produce unique continuous line designs that are easy to execute.

Compelling, timely, and essential reading for healthcare providers, Meaning in Suffering addresses the multiplicity of meanings suffering brings to all it touches: patients, families, health workers, and human science professionals. Examining suffering in writing that is both methodologically rigorous and accessible, the contributors preserve first-hand experiences using narrative ethnography, existential hermeneutics, hermeneutic phenomenology, and traditional ethnography. They offer nuanced insights into suffering as a human condition experienced by persons deserving of dignity, empathy, and understanding. Collectively, these essays demonstrate that understanding the suffering of the "other" reveals something vital about the moral courage required to heal—and stay humane—in the face of suffering. Winner, Nursing Research Category, American Journal of Nursing

The book addresses basic issues in the history of labor and industry and makes an original contribution to the discussion of how technology and people interact.

Quilting is a craft, rich with tradition and homespun, practical applications. But it’s also an art--which, with needle, thread, fabric, and an idea, can give us a new way of looking at, and wrapping ourselves in, the world. This book profiles twenty American practitioners of that art, quilters whose fascinating, innovative work takes the craft one step further and makes it into something new. These remarkable quilters describe their inspiration and methods and show us several examples of their best work. Among them are Jeanne Williamson, a celebrated mixed-media journal quilter; Pam Rubert, whose large-scale quilts showcase her humor; Loretta Bennett, the youngest of the beloved Gee's Bend quilters; Boo Davis, a hip crafter who pieces together quilts with heavy-metal themes; Susan Else, who constructs whimsical quilted sculptures; Ai Kijima, a Brooklyn-based artist influenced by Japanese anime; and Jane Burch Cochran, whose folk-art quilts feature thousands of beads and buttons. Through personal conversations with the quilters, author Spike Gillespie gives us an inside, in-depth look at what inspires each, what methods they use, and how their art has evolved. Along with these close-up views of the quilter’s studio and process, each profile features firsthand tips and inspirational advice. Quilting Art serves as an idea book for quilters, as well as a gorgeous representation of the quilter’s art.

How to get from "start" to "art" Make treasured art quilts from bits of cloth, stitched motifs, and painted details. Dip your toes into the world of art quilting with mixed-media techniques, practice exercises, checklists, and work-along projects presented using 8 design guides. This visual, step-by-step guide will help you unlock your own artistic vision as you quilt in a series, finish small art pieces, and incorporate meaningful symbols into your work. • Tap into your creative muse! Art quilt inspiration, techniques, and checklists presented in 8 easy-to-use design guides • Uncomplicated, visual guide to fabric collage with practice pieces to help you gain expertise • Tell your own artistic story with colors, materials, and beloved symbols

The fun, no-fail approach to creating art quilts Bolster your creativity while having a ball! Certified creativity coach and art quilter Katie Fowler shares her no-fail approach to art quilting, perfect for all experience levels from beginner to advanced. Learn key design elements to take your surface design to the next level as you build your piece layer by layer with fabric, pens, and paint! Focusing on the process rather than the product, readers learn to embrace mistakes as they create unique works of art. Full of visual treats, this guide provides practical insights on the creative process and tools for overcoming obstacles. You can be an art quilter! Have a blast with pens, paint, and fabric Take anxiety out of the process with advice from your personal creativity coach Learn key design elements, overcome creative blocks, and move confidently toward a final piece you love