Among the 24 quilts being shown is a pastel sunflower pattern quilt originally used in the 1930s to raise money for Jackson County’s Scotts Creek Baptist Church, said Suzanne McDowell, Mountain Heritage Center curator. Each of the quilt’s sunflower blocks contains 20 petals, with 10 names embroidered on the flower pattern.

“Each person listed on the quilt reportedly paid 50 cents to have their names embroidered on a petal,” McDowell said. “The quilt has a total of 200 names, many of which will be familiar to community residents today.”

The quilt was once owned by the Rev. Thad Deitz and his wife, Mollie Cowan Deitz. The reverend served as minister at Scotts Creek Baptist Church on four different occasions in the early 20th century, McDowell said.

An event related to the quilt exhibit, Quilt Discovery Day, will be held at the Mountain Heritage Center on Sunday, March 30. Visitors are invited to bring family quilts to the museum from 2 to 4 p.m. to be evaluated by quilt authority Merikay Waldvogel. By examining patterns, fabrics and quilting techniques used, Waldvogel is able to reveal some of the historical details of individual quilts, McDowell said.

The “Airing of the Quilts” exhibit will be on display through Monday, March 31. Open free to the public, the Mountain Heritage Center is located on the ground floor of WCU’s H.F. Robinson Administration Building. The museum is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, call the Mountain Heritage Center at (828) 227-7129 or visit the Web site www.wcu.edu/mhc.

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Last modified: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008