March 13, 2008 issue
Ashe Guild Presents Quilt to State Agriculture Commissioner
Story by Celeste von Mangan
On Wednesday, March 5, the Ashe County Piecemakers Quilt Guild presented North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler with a quilt the guild created depicting the state’s agricultural products. The quilt will hang in the foyer of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture building in Raleigh.
Last spring, the members of the guild were asked to make the quilt for the state department, and 25 to 30 guild members worked on the 28 blocks comprising the quilt. The 82- by 92-inch quilt tells the story of North Carolina’s agricultural history through picture squares of Christmas trees, cotton, watermelons, strawberries, tomatoes, peaches, pigs, blueberries, cows, dairy products, flowers, roosters, peanuts, turf grass, apples, nurseries, pecans, horses, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, eggs, chickens, soybeans and shellfish.
Guild President Margie Miller officiated at last week’s presentation ceremony at Ashe Services for Aging Senior Center in West Jefferson.
“Welcome to our day of excitement,” Miller said. “Commissioner Steve Troxler will be receiving the quilt, and today is the finale of months of work. Even we are awed by how it turned out. Every time you look at it, you see something else. We’re the Ashe County Piecemakers Quilt Guild, and we’ve been in existence for six years. One of our main goals is education—to learn more ourselves about the art of quilting and to teach others. We have given quilts to a number of agencies; we gave over 60 quilts this past year.”
According to Miller, quilt recipients included A Safe Home for Everyone, the sheriff’s department, families who lost their homes to fire and nursing home residents.
“The sheriff’s department keeps our quilts in their cars for children,” said Miller, “and we started giving quilts to burn-out victims. Most of the families lose everything they owned in the fire. You’d be surprised how many people say they lost a quilt their grandmother made. They’re irreplaceable, but it helps a little to receive a new handmade quilt.”
At last week’s presentation, Troxler said, “This quilt will help complete the depiction of North Carolina agricultural products. It will have a special place in the department’s foyer. I restored a 1949 Cub tractor and…it’s interesting to see, along with the other artifacts.”
Troxler also discussed the state’s heritage and the importance of continuing the farm tradition, not only for economic reasons, but also for environmental and family ones.
“We do $66 billion in agriculture and agribusiness every year in North Carolina,” said Troxler, “as opposed to $22 billion in the military and $15 billion dollars every year in tourism. We want to continue this heritage. We are losing farmland in North Carolina at a very fast rate. We’re trying to address this problem and keep farmers on their farms. It’s estimated we will need 75 percent more food in the next 25 years to feed the world’s population. Biofuels too, are something we will see expand.”
Troxler closed his speech by thanking the Ashe County Piecemakers Quilt Guild members.
“Coming from someone who has no artistic talent—I can’t sing or dance either—this quilt is not only a treasure to North Carolina, but also to my wife and to myself,” he said. “I know the love and the time you’ve put into this. Thank you very much.”
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