A common thread starts to fray in Quilt Country

[XemaSab]

BAN PA DEANG, Thailand — Narathi Palua is sewing in the tropical sunshine. His long fingers deftly pull a silver needle through the heavy fabric. He is 13.

Palua could be riding his bike or collecting crabs in the cool waters of the Yom River. Instead, he is making an American quilt likely destined for Lancaster County in Pennsylvania.

In Palua's village of Ban Pa Deang, quilts spill from the open doorways of homes, women drive by on motor scooters clutching rolled-up quilts wrapped in clear plastic, and porches have been converted to outdoor sewing rooms where scraps of fabric litter tiled floors like a calico snowstorm.

Quilting brings prosperity, so everyone sews: gap-toothed grandmothers, smooth-faced boys, young mothers.


http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060511&slug=thaiquilt11