I have seen the same things you talk about, plus there are a gazillion books about those very ideas that are no longer in print.
One of those out of print books was about regular pieced patterns and the quilters or guilds that produced the pretty featured quilts. IF ANYONE finds a book about a quilting group that met near *Lelia Lake, Texas,* please let me know about it. There was a building they met in that I had grown up with--saw it every day near my school. I first remember the lady who owned the house making "head cheese" while I looked on--maybe just after WW2.