On Receiving a Standing Ovation

Blue Bear wins state and regional honors

A couple of months ago I had a telephone call from the AL DAR Chairman of the American Heritage Committee, asking if I would be a speaker on the program at the state conference at Auburn in March.  She wanted me to share photos of my bear I made from an old baby quilt.  I entered the bear under the Fiber Arts category, and won first place in the state contest, and then 1st place in the Southeastern Region.  My friend Elsie also won 1st place at the national level for her china painting entry.  We both spoke at the American Heritage  breakfast program, along with 2 other winners.

Neither of us prepared any notes; just spoke about our project, why we select those particular items and how we felt they tied in to the topic for entries.  We were so relaxed, standing in front of all those DAR ladies that morning.  Elsie went first.  She talked about her hobby and her interest in herbs, which she paints on her china items.  When she finished, the ladies all stood and gave her a big round of applause.  We both were so surprised to think they really thought we were so good!!

Next it was my time to speak.  I walked up to the microphone at the front of the room and told the story of the baby quilt I used to cut the pattern for "Blue Bear".  I had photos of the bear and remnants of the quilt, plus a photo of Caroline holding the bear when I gave it to her for her 15th birthday last September.


 I also had a photo of our 3 boys sitting on the quilt when Bill was only 6 weeks old, the father of Caroline.  It wasn't just a bear I made that made my entry so interesting; it was the history behind it. The quilt was made for my cousin's little
 boy  in 1942 (he was a "blue baby" and only lived one month; that's how Blue Bear got his name).  Then my aunt used the quilt for her 2 boys, later giving it to me for our 3 boys.It kept passing along to others in my family and used by a total of 10 children before it finally wore out. My sister returned the ragged quilt to me to dispose of it.  I kept it for awhile and one day decided to make the bear for Caroline.  I had previously made bears from old worn out quilts for the other 4 granddaughters when they turned 18.  Caroline asked me one day if she would get a bear when she turns 18.  I decided to go ahead and make hers while I could still see how to sew!!  
   Click photos to enlarge.

At the meeting, I displayed a bear I had made earlier for a friend, using an old family quilt, so they could visualize the size and shape of "Blue Bear".  I also made a bear of dark brown cotton print and gave it to our State Regent at the end of the program.  When I finished talking and started back to my seat, everybody stood again and there was a loud round of applause.   I was so surprised. I had never had a "standing ovation" before.  I thought what I had done was so simple, and that anybody could enter if they would just try.  You just have to use your imagination to come up with something that fits in the theme of the contest.

I won the  fiber arts contest at the state level a couple of years ago with an oval  rag rug I made from some old, worn bed sheets.  I created a design in the rug by using different shades of green and white.   My entry was designed to talk about how our ancestors made rugs from worn clothing.  Preserving the past was a theme that year.