In lines 7-8 what does Quindlen mean whe she describes America as being like the crazy quilts that have been one of its great folk-art forms?

When Quindlen describes America as being like the crazy quilts that have been one of the countries great folk-art forms, she is symbolically stating that like the discordant pieces of the quilt that come together to form a beautiful piece of fabric, America is made of a discordant group of people who have come together to form a beautiful nation.

A patchwork quilt is composed of various pieces or remnants from other pieces of fabric used to make clothing or other items around the house from cloth. A quilt is a beautiful blanket, that is often more than the some of its parts. So too, like the quilt, America has been built by the various peoples from the various countries from around the world and truly is more than just the people that inhabit it from different places, one of the greatest examples of modern, global social interactions.