Albertville Museum Quilt Display

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Billie Crumly —

NOTE: Click each photo to see a larger view.

NOTE: This is a post for the new quilting ladies I met in Clermont, Fl. last week. I will re-post more in the next few days on Mrs. Crumly’s quilts. Enjoyed meeting you all.  Russ Austin

A few weeks ago the museum director and a friend came to talk to me about quilts — old quilts.  We had the nicest visit, as you know, quilts are my thing.

The plan is for the museum to have an old quilt display and I was asked to come tell tales, etc. and I was pleased.  Now I heard through the grapevine that I was to do the program!!  I had no idea I was on docket to do a program.  This is what I used to do when I was younger and my program title was “Southern Quilting:  How it Used to Be.”  This was when I could walk without a walker and stand long enough to do a program.  Well, I’ve been told they will give me a seat up front so I can tell a little about how it used to be.  I’m now working on what I’ll say — usually when I pull a quilt out of the bag I can tell stories about it.

I taught quilting in the Atlanta Metro area for 12 years and there are lots of stories.  Maybe one of the funniest is when my class was drawing to a close.  We met in a large fellowship hall and I asked the ladies to bring a salad and we’d eat together on the last day.  Now the morning of that day arrived and here we all come laden with food.  The kitchen was next door and each lady took her dish and tried to get in the fridge — that is if it needed to be.

When the class was over I was trying to get all my belongings together so I could go home and somebody else put lunch on the table.  What good food and, of course, I tried it all.  One dish I thought was tasty and I kept asking who brought it and nobody answered.  Clean up time came and nobody claimed that dish I had liked so well and it was decided that one lady that had to leave early brought it and I was designated to take the almost empty bowl home with me.

Here I am all packed up — we had rolled the quilt up (complete with frames) and rolled the windows down on that two door car allowing the frames to stick out on the right side.  I looked a fright as I traveled along like that, but I did it many times.  As I started to back out of my parking spot, somebody yells “wait” and that I did.  It seems the kindergarten teacher had brought the mystery dish.  She put it in the refrigerator ’til she finished her class — it was intended for her friend who had just had a new baby!!  She was very gracious about the mix up stating, “You mean you ate it without baking it.”  Here again, I digress.

Albertville Museum is making big plans for this day so if you like quilts — this will be a showing (mostly) of utility quilts from bygone years.  I sent a quilt made of fertilizer sacks and one made from tobacco sacks.  I’m showing quilt pictures here — however, these are not the kind of quilts you’ll see at the museum on the 21st.  See you there — this is the very best part of country living.