Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on March 25, 2021.

In honor of National Quilt Day, March 20, and with a nod to the industry of women during National Women’s month, The Old Church Gallery (OCG) is posting a quilt a day on their Facebook page throughout the month of March. This virtual exhibit includes photos of vintage and contemporary quilts, along with background stories and historical details, written by Kathleen Ingoldsby, a local history archivist and co-director of the OCG’s Floyd Story Center’s oral history program. Some quilt entries are accompanied by photos of the quilters.

The OCG Quilt-a-day Display showcases the artistry and ingenuity of the quilters and the efforts of the OCG quilt collection administration members, Alice Slusher, Catherine Pauley and Clara Martin. It begins with Mary McNeil Epperly’s (1915-1996) “Grandmother’s Flower Garden,” which she hand-quilted in 1931.

An early 1900 vintage farmhouse quilt by Florence Aldridge McNeil (1878-1967) shows the resourcefulness of the times. “Florence made dozens of these small quilts out of whatever fabric was available (mostly worn-out clothing); they kept her children warm throughout the winter,” the caption reads. Both Epperly and McNeil were born and raised in the Locust Grove area of Floyd County.

Others quilts by Florence Aldridge McNeil, made throughout the 1930s – 40s, document the arrival of colorful printed feed sack material that brought “new design inspirations for thrifty quilters.”  A “Triple Irish Chain” quilt, sewn and labeled for her youngest son Johnny, was made entirely of feed sacks. “The large yellow centers and the green backing are plain white feed sacks that she dyed.”

A vintage “Crazy Quilt 1906” was made by Zora Weeks and donated to OCG by her family. The exhibit text reads: “Zora’s family moved West in search of economic opportunities in the early 1900s; however, she was descended from deeply-rooted German-American families in the Topeco and Floyd areas, including Weeks, Weddles, Smiths, and Shortts. The quilt appears to have been a friendship effort because many of the 42 blocks are embroidered with initials. One block reads “Good Night 1906,” another “Good Morning 1907,” and even “The Floyd Press” is stitched into one block.”

Quilts made by Polly Ann Hurt Mannon (1880-1966) were discovered between a mattress and box spring by her grandchildren in the home of her daughter Elsie Graham. “World Without End,” is a “Friendship Quilt” of signed blocks, contributed by neighbor quilters after Rachel M. Vest lost nearly everything to a fire. Florence Aldridge McNeil was joining the blocks “but never quite finished.” Her granddaughter, Clara Martin finally, completed the quilt in 2000. Another “Fan” Friendship quilt was hand-quilted by about forty women parishioners of Harvestwood Church, Pizarro, on the occasion of Rev. Dr. R. Gamble See’s 44th birthday, Aug. 15, 1922.”

An original pinwheel design by Ada Marie Harris Agee (1931-2004) was made from woolen blanket material, machine stitched, and bonded to polyknit. It was documented in 2014 by the Virginia Quilt Consortium, F-24. India Christie Earles Dickerson’s (1901-1990) fully reversible “Roman Stripe” quilt, made circa 1960, has also been documented by Virginia Quilt Documentation Project and archived by the Virginia Consortium of Quilters. Dickerson, who was from the Beaver Creek neighborhood, “held the skilled position of sleeve setter at the Freezer Shirt Factory (established 1938) in the town (now Dogtown).”

The quilts are beautiful to look at, but they also tell the history of the county, as with this March 7th entry: Our Sunday, March 7th, quilt dates from 1913, sewn by Arlie Harman Tobler (1900–2000). The eldest of eleven children born to Martin and Cordelia Weddle Harman of the Burks Fork area near Buffalo Mountain, Arlie fashioned this brilliant yellow quilt when she was twelve years-old. In a 1999 interview from our “Floyd County Traditions – Buffalo Mountain, Place-based Oral History Series,” she noted that her father “could make anything,” well-known then as a blacksmith, veterinarian, carpenter, and coffin maker. Arlie Harman learned to sew at an early age by helping her mother sew and fit linings for the caskets her father built. As a young woman, Arlie taught at the one-room Union School… After her marriage to Sherman Tobler, Arlie added country storekeeper to her list of accomplishments.”

According to a March 13 post that features a sampling of Effie King Brown’s collected quilt square patterns, Brown was a lifelong educator (continuing through her 100th year) who loved history and quilting. She researched needlework through the ages, sharing her passion through interviews, exhibits, and lectures. A charter member of both the Old Church Gallery Quilters Guild and the Floyd County Historical Society, Brown created a collection of quilt square patterns for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial. The collection, which included her researched background stories, was gifted to Old Church Gallery and is on permanent display. Themes of her thirty-two quilt squares are set in colonial times through the Civil War, some hold biblical themes or even reflect a frontier dance. Mrs. Effie’s research included familiar patterns such as “Log Cabin,” “Nine Patch,” and “Churn Dash,” along with many uncommon to our region. (The Dove Pattern, which was taken from references in the Bible is pictured in the first photo posted here.)

The March 12th post features a quilt made by retired Floyd County High School Biology teacher Brenda Bobbitt, after she was inspired by the OCG’s 2019 feed sack exhibit “Sweet and Sassy.” “Brenda used printed feed sack material as well as reproduction 1930s cotton prints and named it Hexagons, Triangles, and Stars.” This post goes on to explain that Bobbitt has been quilting since she was seven-years-old, with her first quilt being for a doll. Twenty-five years ago, Bobbitt started putting Elvis in every quilt she made in honor of her daughter Callie, an Elvis fan.

There is even “Corona Quilt” displayed. Recently created by Loretta Bedia (daughter of Mary McNeil Epperly and youngest granddaughter of Florence Aldridge McNeil) as a “stay at home” pandemic project, it features the image of the red and white sphere put out by the CDC to represent what the virus looks like under a microscope.

Comments on the Quilt-a-day virtual Facebook display include those of descendants and neighbors of the quilters and add to the rich historical accounting of the efforts of OCG, a cultural arts museum that preserves and presents handmade local arts, crafts, folklore, stories song and oral histories.  The OCG, located on 110 Wilson Street in Floyd, is currently closed to the public but will open later this year. ______Colleen  Redman