SHS hosts centennial quilt show

November 10, 2007 09:36 pm

— Stillwater High School is hosting “Centennial Stitches — Oklahoma History in Quilts” at 7 p.m. Monday at the Performing Arts Center.
Judy Howard will present the trunk show program, “Under the Covers with Granny Reveals Oklahoma Secrets,” which will include the Frank Phillips Autograph Quilt and the Sam Walton family quilt from her collection of historic quilts.
Eighty 22-inch centennial quilt contest winners, including Stillwater resident Freida Grischkowsky’s “911 Quilt,” will be on display at the Performing Arts Center Monday through Thursday. Both the show and the program are free and open to the public.
Howard has owned Buckboard Antique Quilts for 31 years and has collected more than 5,000 antique and vintage quilts. She has published three photographic collections of these works. The latest is Centennial Stitches — Oklahoma History in Quilts.” Book profits go to nonprofit agencies that provide quilts for orphans, sick babies and victims of fires, tornadoes and disasters.
“Without the sacrifice of our pioneer women, Oklahoma wouldn’t be having its centennial,” Howard said. “Each bride-to-be traditionally made a baker’s dozen quilts to start her marriage. Twelve quilts were everyday utilitarian quilts necessary to stay warm. The 13th quilt was her wedding quilt and usually an appliqued floral of exceptional workmanship that won the blue ribbons at the state fair and was passed down from generation to generation so she would not be forgotten — her legacy of love.”
Judy said that the people and places portrayed in these quilts offer a unique perspective into the inspirational stories of Oklahoma families.
“These women grew and carded their own cotton for the batting and used old clothing, feedsacks and every scrap of fabric they could recycle to make new quilts to replace the old family ones,” she said.
Many quilt patterns like Road to Oklahoma, Windmill, Split Rail Fence, Log Cabin, Barn Raising, Trail of the Covered Wagon, Schoolhouse, Twister, Churn Dash and Hole in the Barn Door tell of their bleak rural surroundings and everyday life, she added.

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