Marie Webster Page 2    With interest in her quilt designs rising, Doubleday, Page & Co. hired her to write a book on the history of quilting and pattern names. She researched the topics as best she could and produced Quilts, Their Story and How to Make Them, which was published in October 1915, making it the first book ever published on American quilting. It was reprinted in 1916, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1943, and 1948, and could still be found in public libraries in the early 70s.    Between the magazine articles, her pattern company, and her book, Marie became a celebrity of sorts. She gave quilt lectures, signed books, and loaned her quilts for displays at big-city department stores. But even with the added commitments to her schedule, Marie added to her portfolio of appliqué designs. Those produced from 1914 to 1918 became her most popular—Grapes and Vines, Wreath of Roses, French Baskets, Poinsettia, and Cherokee Rose.    By 1921, the business had an official name—The Practical Patchwork Company. Marie's sister, Emma, worked on the patterns, as did friends Ida Hess and Evangeline Beshore. Together they packaged up patterns, instruction sheets, and fabric swatches, and then shipped them out.   The Practical Patchwork Company also sold partially completed quilts. For example, the French Baskets quilt was sold as a top—stamped for $12, basted for $45, and finished for $95. Customers were given a choice of five pastel colors for the foundation fabric behind the basket appliqué designs.    By the 1930s, Marie had slowed down a bit, and George died in 1938. She created no new designs, but her friends and associates kept the business going. In 1942, Marie moved to Princeton, New Jersey, with her only child, Lawrence, and his family. She died there in 1956 at the age of 97.    Her death, however, did not signal the end of her influence. As a new generation of quilt enthusiasts making their own appliqué quilts discovered Marie Webster's designs, interest in her life and work was revived.    Her death, however, did not signal the end of her influence. As a new generation of quilt enthusiasts making their own appliqué quilts discovered Marie Webster's designs, interest in her life and work was revived.    Rosalind Perry, Marie's granddaughter, met quilt historian Pat Nickols, of Rancho Santa Fe, California at a lecture in 1988. Pat described how important Rosalind's grandmother was to America's quilt story and strongly urged Rosalind to reprint Marie's book.    To Rosalind, Marie Webster was a sweet, loving grandmother who lived with her family during Rosalind's childhood in New Jersey. Marie made Bunny with Basket appliquéd quilts for Rosalind and her sister, Kathy. Rosalind remembers her grandmother giving her an autographed copy of the first edition of her book on her tenth birthday. "At the time I was only dimly aware that she had actually written the book herself and had also designed and made the flowered quilts which adorned every bed in our house."