Category Archives: Quilts From Poor Valley

Quilts I’ve photographed in southwest Virginia

Please Help Me!

Next Wednesday I am off and I’m taking my camera with me to see (and maybe help a little) the progress of the Mendota Cemetery Quilt. I’ve heard it called “stunning.”

Quilting fills so many roles in a rural life. It’s a necessity, an art, a magnificant gift, a frusteration, and a great way to raise money. Everyone could use a good quilt, and most everyone can spare a dollar for a chance on a quilt.

In just a few weeks, this sweet quilt will find its way home with someone. It was quilted by Ruby Smith. Ruby is 96. She was my mother’s dearest friend. I “sharpened” this image. Look closely. Tiny, perfect stitches by a hand that has known 96 years on this earth.

All of the proceeds will benefit the Goodson Kinderhook Volunteer Fire Department. No matter how you vote, who your family is, whether you talk Yankee or Southern, or whether you go to this church or that church, if you smell smoke, you’re going to call 911. Following that call, as soon as humanly possible, a big red truck with the sole purpose of putting a fire out– or saving your life or even sometimes your pet’s life, is going to pull in your driveway.

Please help us raise money for the the Goodson Kinderhook Volunteer Fire Department. Tickets for this quilt are $1.00 each. Please consider buying….just $5. If you live a long ways off, please still consider buying the tickets. If you send me your address, I’ll send you the tickets with a self addressed stamped envelope for you to return your check and the stubs for drawing back to me.

If you live nearby, yet it’s still not convenient for you to hook up with me, just send me your address. We’ll do the same as if you live outside the area.

I would love to sell 100 chances on this quilt. Please help me.

Thank you.

Mendota Cemetery Quilt 2013

Hi! I’ve been gone for a few days. Well, not gone, but not online. I’m back!! I’ve missed you!!

When I started blogging in April, one of the earlier posts involved our Mendota and Mt. Vernon cemeteries and the fundraising that supports the upkeep of these cemeteries. Dale Jett and Hello Stranger put on an amazing show right here in Mendota during May. Here’s our talented and kind pals….

That show also was the kickoff of our quilt raffle. Both were very successful. And fun!

Now…present day! It’s time to get ready for 2013! In just a few weeks, we’ll be setting the date for the 2013 benefit; and earlier this week, a few of us met in Kingsport to purchase fabric for the new quilt.

We planned to visit several quilt shops, but we found exactly what we needed at a shop called “Heavenly Stitches Quilt Shoppe” on Ft. Henry Drive in Kingsport. One of the owners, Paul, was there, and we yakked it up with him. Very nice.

The quilt we’re making is a “flying geese” pattern, so this year’s quilt will be called “I’ll Fly Away.” Recognize that? “I’ll Fly Away” is a song made popular by the Carter Family and one that Dale, Oscar and Teresa sing regularly and DO AN AWESOME JOB!! It all ties together. Beautifully.

And Heavenly Stitches has lots of fabric to choose from…a rainbow of color!

Here’s the fabric we selected for the new quilt. The first one in the lineup…the black and blue…was the “inspiration” fabric.

Since I’m a quilter wannabe and not a true quilter, I can only tell you the little bit I know about the fabric selection…you have to have a dark and then a light for this quilt.

We’ll have several work days on the quilt, and I’ll be participating. I’ll take you along and show you the progress of how these fabric selections become a beautiful quilt.

Paul, the owner of Heavenly Fabrics, invited us to look around at some of the quilts on display.

Black Quilt at Heavenly Stitches

Have you heard of the Shiloh Baptist Quilters in Benhams (Bristol, Virginia)? I’m not sure what the relationship is or how this quilt ended up at Heavenly Stitches, but Paul said this is their work.

Beautiful.

Guest House & Honey Bees

I talk about the “guest house” from time to time on this blog. When we did not live in Mendota year round, someone else lived here and took care of RiverCliff Cottage. They did a very good job, and I miss them. They lived in an apartment over the garage. When they left, we put our extra things in, I made window treatments, etc. It became…and still is… a sort of “doll house” for me. Following that, my girlfriend came for a few weeks and stayed several years. I miss her, too. Most recently, I’ve “stuck my foot in the water” in renting it in a modified bed/breakfast fashion. I’ve had a measure of success but I’ll have to figure out if I want to do this as a “real” business. There’s lots to consider–the downside is I get to be the maid as well as the owner.

We’re currently working on the guesthouse, so I took several pictures before we got started. Here’s the kitchen…

Mike made the kitchen table. It’s wormy chestnut with an “apron” from a tobacco barn that had fallen on hard times. It has a second chance as my table. My neighbor gave me the chairs which we spray painted black. I made the window treatments…I even lined them!

Another view…

Here’s the cooking area of the kitchen, and I think you’ll agree that this will look much better with hardwood. We are currently removing the vinyl which is a tough job.

The living room is open to the ktichen…here it is…

I’m leaving the carpet in the living room. It’s good carpet and I think the hardwood that will replace the vinyl will tone it down a little bit. I may replace the carpet in a few years, but I like having carpet in this area because the sofa bed could scratch hardwood when we move it about. Mike made the little coffee table.

On the bannister as you come up the steps, I leave my sister’s quilt to enjoy or snuggle in..I won it during a Mendota Cemetery raffle. I bought a gazillion tickets…

I’ve shown you the bedroom before. I love having the new hardwood in this room because I can swap around quilts and bedding with little thought to what colors they are. I love linens!

The bathroom is really cute…lots of angles…this chair was a trash to treasure find. It was destined for the landfill but visited Mike’s shop and he put it back together, ran over it, and put it back together again. We recovered it in ~~cheap~~ inexpensive fabric from Walmart.

Thank you for visiting the guest house apartment and for reading RiverCliff Cottage. But there’s more…

It’s been a busy day. We are in the process of getting the last of the 2012 honey flow from our bees. I want to share a few bee pictures…this is my brother in law, Gerald Booher, armed with a smoker…he’s serious in his defense. When you “smoke” the bees, they all dive deep into the hive to start eating their honey thinking it might burn. Anyway, I assume that is what they think. Gerald has had quite a few stings in 2012.

Here’s me…I’m sweating like a PIG in this picture. I am armed with sugar water which calms the bees. They are like crack addicts for sugar water. My bee suit it too big so the helmet falls around all the time. I wear leggings, shorts and long sleeves under the suit because the suit does not stop an ambitious bee from stinging. It’s a bit warm.

And here is why we suit up so carefully.

Good night.

The Winner of the Mendota Quilt

After months of planning, buying fabric, cutting, sewing and coordinating the work of others, the 2012 Mendota Cemetery Quilt “Common Ground” came to life. More months followed of selling tickets, and then it came to a climatic end at the Mendota Homecoming today when the winner was drawn.

Chris was the ring leader of the Mendota Cemetery quilt. Without her, there would be no quilt. She’s been out of town all summer helping a family member. She’s back–and just in time to draw the ticket.

Over 1600 tickets were sold.

I had about 1/16 chance in winning. It didn’t matter. Today was not my day. It was Libby’s day!

Libby bought a $1 chance from my neighbor Margie. Next week, she’ll be enjoying the Mendota Cemetery Quilt called “Common Ground.” I would like to be a fly on the wall when Margie calls her and tells her!!

This was not my original post for today but I was so excited I had to share it. Living in a rural community means many things…and today, these things are all good.

We’re already whispering about next year’s Mendota Cemetery Quilt. I’ll take you along when we get the fabric. We’ll be working hard to top this one.

Daily Mendota August 17

Yikes…today is almost over and I have not been very productive.

I went to get my hair cut and highlighted this morning. I was so happy when Louetta called and asked me to come in at 8:45 am instead of 11:00 am which was my original schedule. I thought…”wow…I’ll come home and get a lot done.” There are so many things that can go wrong with that kind of statement!

So…. I didn’t do any of the things I intended, and here is is 9:40 pm and I just put the jars of spaghetti sauce into the pressure canner. No worries..it’s only one batch of nine pints. It will put my spaghetti sauce stash right at 71 if they all seal.

I’m waiting for the comforting sound of the pressure canner jiggling. I’ll listen to that for 40 minutes, turn the stove off and go to bed. Tomorrow, I’ll get the jars out and they will still be quite warm. Sigh.

Back to my hair appointment…Louetta has been doing my hair since 1998 when we bought the land that this house sets on. She had her shop on the corner of Benhams and Reedy Creek Road in the Benhams community. This was the closest hair salon to my house. Later, she moved the shop into a house she owned on Reedy Creek Road. Shortly thereafter, she moved the shop into the basement of the house that she lived in on Reedy Creek Road. (These were two different houses.) The interesting fact about this is that she sold that house while having a garage sale. I am not kidding. Following that, she moved back to to the corner of Benhams and Reedy Creek Road and changed her salon’s name to Louetta’s Carribean Splash. Following that, she moved her shop to Lee Highway beside Domino’s Pizza and called her salon “Louetta’s Hair Pottery and Color Works.” Now, she is near Exit 10 on Lee Highway, and I think she kept the same name.

Louetta is not afraid of change.

She is Louetta Canter but she was a Millard before she got married. This is important because my parents always said “the Millard girls are very handy and creative.” It’s true. For all of Lou’s customers to follow her around (and these are just a few of the moves…there were others before I ever showed up), she has to be pretty good. .

While I was there, I pulled out my camera. I wanted to show you Louetta’s Great Grandmother Jackson’s quilt.

It’s a beautiful quilt that has been used and loved. It’s hanging on a walking stick…there’s a story about that, too, but I’ll have to get Louetta to tell us about that.

Here’s Louetta. She has so much more nerve and God-given talent than most…especially me…I love her moxy.

Yellow Bedroom Redo

Here’s our yellow guest bedroom. I wanted to give you the real picture before I got started. It has become a junk repository. I will be replacing the very cheap Targe’ window treatments with some blue and white valances I’m making. I’ll remove the duvet and use a white battenberg duvet in its place. I’ll add one of my favorite quilts at the foot of the bed for warmth and color. This project should not take more than a day, and the cost is the fabric which I purchased for $8.95 per yard at Short Sheets Fabric in Bristol, Virginia. I already had lining fabric and touch up paint for walls, as well as the bedding.

Hope to have the reveal/after picture tomorrow evening.

Mendota Cemetery Benefit 2012

Dale Jett & Hello Stranger

Last night was the Mendota/Mt. Vernon Cemetery Benefit 2012. Here’s what went good and what when bad:

Good things…people came! They came to our benefit. I never doubted the talent of the artists — Dale Jett & Hello Stranger (in the photo…that’s Dale Jett, Theresa Jett and Oscar Harris). They have played at the Opry. However, I kept thinking of Oscar’s comment that sometimes “at home…people just think that’s ol’ Dale and ol’ Oscar…we see them at the Rally Mart.”

That was not the case. They played their best, and the people gave their best. They clapped and clapped and when Oscar thanked them, they kept clapping. I teared up. Bet that Dale, Oscar, and Theresa were sniffling around on the stage, too!

Note to self: Next year bring tissues!

Bad things…we ran out of food! Given the opportunity, we’ll do better next year. We planned for 200. 350 showed up. We totally underestimated this benefit.

My feet are hurting but my heart is full.

Oh….and we raised money. It looks like each cemetery (we divided the proceeds between Mt. Vernon Cemetery and the Mendota Cemetery) will get about $1500 to help with the mowing expense. We sold a bunch of quilt tickets, too, and that is not in the count.

I recall my sister, Pat, nudging me a few years ago when we were sitting at the Mendota Homecoming. She said “don’t you just love living in the country?”

I do.

Cemetery Quilt

My parents are buried in a community cemetery. It’s so pretty. So peaceful. My husband and I will be buried there. I hope that’s not for a while.

At one time, the Mendota Cemetery had enough money gaining interest to pay for the upkeep, but that was when interest rates were 12% and gas for the mowing was 60 cents per gallon. Now, we have to do fundraising. We are quite a little fundraising machine. There’s bingo. We have afghans with screen printed pictures of our rural scenes. We have cookbooks. Did I tell you that we never charge any community member for burial there? Part of the tradition of rural life is pulling together during hard times, and death is a hard time.

We’re raffling off a quilt this year as part of our fundraising. We’re having a benefit, too, but I’ll write about that later.

Quilt called Common Ground

The quilt is a compilation of 30 women, but there were really only a few that did most of the work. I was not one of the few, but I did sew six or seven strips together, so I can claim my piece of the quilt’s history. It’s called “Common Ground”…or maybe “Uncommon Ground”? See, I don’t even know but I’m still taking credit for part of the quilt!

As the quilt neared completion, we wondered if we could sell 500 tickets. Margie called me. I called Nancy. Nancy called Margie. Margie called Lisa. Lisa called Chris. Chris called Linda. Maybe not all in that order, but you get the picture. We could not decide.

I ordered big. I recalled my neighbor Jennifer saying “we serve a big God…think big!” She was talking about another subject, but I recalled her statement when ordering the raffle tickets, so I ordered not 500 — but 1,000!!! Guess what? Tonight I ordered another 1,000 tickets!

We will have to do a quilt every year following this success. Maybe I can do more than six strips!!

My Nephew’s Present

This is a double wedding ring quilt. For once, I had the perfect gift.

My nephew Will got married last week. I am not even sure if I was invited to the wedding, but I’d already made plans so it didn’t really matter. What was great is that for once, I had the perfect gift. I gave my nephew and his new wife something I think they will come to treasure. I gave them a quilt.

I didn’t make the quilt. Mrs. Ruby Smith made the quilt. She was in her late 80’s when she made the quilt…she’s in her 90’s now. It is the double wedding ring pattern. I believe it has a bit of my mother’s clothing in it. Mother died 8 years ago.

Will and Jaimee, I hope you treasure this quilt. I treasured it and for some reason, it wanted to come to your place. You almost got towels and a cookbook.