Sunday, September 20, 2020

Searching for Good News

 After days of storm and hurricane tracking, worrying, preparing and then being bypassed without even a few drops of rain on our dry ground, I find myself trying to be thankful that my life and home were not damaged. Seeing news reports of 200,000 deaths, tragic fires in the West, and more uncivilized treatment of each other, topped off by the death of the champion of rights for all, the Notorious RBG, I am searching for positive thoughts. What a great loss to our country.


Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 1933-2020

Okay, something good to report--Mississippi's flag, the last state flag to bear the Confederate battle emblem, has been retired by act of the legislature and a new design has been chosen which will be up for vote in November. A nine-member commission settled on "The New Magnolia" flag from hundreds of submissions.

This weekend the Hattiesburg Arts Council celebrated its 50th anniversary by displaying all the works in its permanent collection along with historical scrapbooks showing activities through these years. Pine Belt Quilters had a beautiful crazy quilt in this display, with this interesting history: In about 1995 Jane Heidelberg and other members of the Pine Burr Sewing Club began making a velveteen crazy quilt. After making some squares and cutting patches for the other 12 squares, they saw this was more of an undertaking than they wanted to finish. The materials were offered to Ella Lucas and other members of Pine Belt Quilters. Over the next couple of years, quilters who loved embroidery and hand embellishment finished the blocks and assembled them into a quilt. The end result was an example of fine neddlework and  embroidery that was unique, as crazy quilts were rarely made after the turn of the century. We felt that it should be donated to a museum or organization for preservation as part of Hattiesburg's history. Patty Hall, executive director of the Hattiesburg Arts Council was happy to receive the quilt when it was finished in 1997, and it remains a part of HAC's permanent collection. 










1 comment:

tierneycreates said...

Sigh...well the crazy quilt is good news - that is an awesome bit of your guilds history being part of the historical display as well as the change to your state flag. Change does come, I hope people realize that changes like this are pretty big (like major!). Glad your house was safe. RBG - yes, our hearts are broken but what a legacy she left!