"Q" - IN DEEP COTTON

It's probably the only crop I pass that I can recognize without a sign!!! (Oh, OK, I can also recognize artichokes!)

Yes, of course I added a "blossom" to my roadie souvenirs! "Wild" and unprocessed, it actually feels just like Johnson & Johnson Cotton Balls!

"Q" - POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Some are modest, some elaborate. But there's no way I'm going to research the different types and design of utility poles and what type of service each one delivers. I simply got sidetracked one day and noticed how (mostly) no two are alike! Blame it on a bored trigger finger -- had to do SOMEthing as the miles passed between Kentucky and California!!

(Note: Most of these photos were taken through a sorta-clean windshield or with camera pointed out the passenger window, one hand on the steering wheel, both eyes on the road and fingers crossed!!) My "straighten" and "crop" tools were heavily used in this presentation!!!)

TODAY, "Q" IS FOR QUILT!

Appalachia's regional art, culture, music and crafts have not only survived generations of population explosion and migration. Its heritage crafts are today still passed on to younger generations and are celebrated and evident just about anywhere one looks.

Especially quilts. How many of you have ever attended a quilting bee? Or watched an aunt or grandmother create a quilt? I never had that luxury in my youth, so perhaps that's why in my old age I've become such a quilt-appreciator.

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Contemporary Quilts, found in museum shops, art guilds, craft fairs -- bold, geometric, and colorful with defined designs; many are machine-quilted in a wide variety of designs.

I found well-preserved, exquisite quilts put together in the early 1800's, and in the early 2,000's throughout Appalachia. The quilts I saw are not just functional, they are imaginative works of art, painstakingly "built" first by pioneers, and now by artisans. It's an art form that is very much alive and well in this part of the country.

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Heirloom Quilts,

Museum of Appalachia, Tennessee

Remember that these were sewn, embroidered and quilted ENTIRELY by hand. In the enlargements, note the tiny, tiny, exquisitely, perfectly identical stitches.

The Quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama, deserve their very own blog page. I'll get to it eventually!

Joan Taylor, no slouch herself with a needle, just left this link in "Comments":

http://www.womenfolk.com/historyofquilts/

I had some difficulty opening the page and just noticed, for some reason, when I copied it "http://" appears twice. Just delete one of them and try again.

"Q" - GOT NAVAL JELLY?

Rusted, rusty and rustic -- certainly has its charms. And there's even a restaurant in Clarksdale, Mississippi named after it!