Falkner MS Quilting Tradition

Written by Myra Hill McKee

Mrs. Wardie Conner Hill (MamaHill) designed, quilted, and entered this Airport/Airplane quilt (believed to be a replica of Memphis Airport and early era of the airplane) in the 1933 Sears competition. The quilt competition was conducted in honor of the Chicago Century of Progress Fair Exposition. Sears placed a small 2 x 3 inch notice in it’s January Spring catalog. There were 25,000 entries by May 15th.

The winner was given $1000.  The winning quilt held the honor of being given to Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

MamaHill’s quilt did not place in the competition, but is a wonderful family keepsake heirloom. The quilt was passed down to Juanita Welch Hill, wife of her son Robert B. Hill, Mrs. Wardie’s daughter in law because she helped quilt it. Juanita (Grandmuddy) passed it to her daughter Grace Hill Robertson, who also has the original bed that the heirloom quilt covered, that belonged to (PapaHill and MamaHill) Egbert Eugene and Wardie Hill. 

Cross Stitch Quilt

Juanita Hill enjoyed quilting out of necessity in the early years as a mother of 14 children. In the winter months she would hang up her four corner quilting frames in a spare room and would quilt during the day wile the children were at school. It was too cold to do outside work. Usually there would be several neighbor ladies that would do the same, each would come with a potluck dish, quilt, catch up on community news, and keep their families warm in the cold winter. The quilt patterns were pieces together to form a beautiful design from gathered material scrapes usually from their husbands and children’s homemade shirts and dresses. Many times these were from flour sacks which at that time many staple products were sold in these bags.

In her later years she continued to enjoy hand work and quilting. She enjoyed being part of the Mt Zion Quilters at the Mt Zion Church, at times they would have two quilts up at a time. She also quilted with Falkner Community Quilters at the Town Hall. The pictured Cross Stitch Quilt now belongs to Grace Roberston, one of Juanita’s daughters. The quilt pieces were purchased some 40 years ago, crossed stitched with the help of her mother (about five years before her death), along with friends, and family members the cross stitched pieces were completed. In 2016 the pieces were set together and quilted by Grace Robertson, Alice Horton, Myra McKee, and Sherry Hill.

Mt Zion ladies have a great quilting tradition passed down for generations known as “Mt Zion Quilters”. The Quilters have a tradition of donating their work and quilts for fundraising for the church youth mission trips. Quilts have been quilted for centuries by this community and have been donated by many ladies in the church such as, Mrs. Roberta Reed, Juanita Hill, Therra Jackson, Anna Lou James, Lena Goolsby, who could be counted on to donate a quilt for a worthy project.

In early 2000 the group began quilting a yearly quilt to be donated for the youth mission trip. As word was passed along, now, the ladies quilt tops with the quilting donation passed on to the church youth and children projects.

The Mt Zion Quilters is made up of church ladies, community ladies, and family. The most notable one was the 103 year old, Mrs. Therra Jackson, who continued to enjoy quilting and hand work until her death in 2019. The Mt Zion Quilters have a collective book to preserve the many quilted patterns they have quilted for their families, church, community and community projects.

The Bible Quilt

In 2013 the ladies of Mt Zion Church of Falkner, MS led by Jane Cross and Alice Horton, researched and created the individual blocks for the Bible Quilt to be presented to their pastor, Richie Lockhart and family. They researched the internet for patterns from old magazines and pattern books, some patterns had to be redrafted to fit the proper size. Mrs. Lena Goolsby contributed one of her original quilt block designs. The pieced blocks were set together to form the Bible from Genesis to Revelations.

The Bible quilt top was presented to the pastor Christmas 2013. In January 2014 it was quilted by the ladies of the Mt Zion Quilters. The name of each block was embroidered along with the name of the lady that pieced it. Some of the Mt Zion Quilters that quilted on it are Alice Horton, Jane Cross, Lena Goolsby, Grace Robertson, Mary Linville and Mrs. Thera Jackson.