Quilt collection to be on exhibit during annual show

These pieces of art will be in a special exhibit of antique quilts during the annual show.

One virtue of growing up in a family that cares about history and has deep roots in Texas is coming across things in ancestors' homes that may have been forgotten or taken for granted.

The thrill of rediscovery prompted the timely exhibition of the Cox-Coker collection of antique quilts on view at Keystone Square Museum, 303 S. Western St., during the annual Needle Art & Quilt Show: Stitches in Time.

Buena Vista Coker Cox and Mary Emma Crow Coker are the maternal grandmother and great-grandmother of Robert Wright III of Lampasas.

Wright's wife, Carol Northington Wright, also a Lampasas native, served on the Needle Art & Quilt Show Committee for many years and was taken with the quilts when she and her husband discovered them, she said.

"These quilts were created for warmth, not for decoration," Mrs. Wright noted. While some evoke or closely follow familiar patterns, their primary function was not decorative, unlike many of the quilts produced today. "The fabrics alternate or match until they run out of that type of cloth, then abruptly, they switch," Mrs. Wright said. "Then you get purple or green somewhere where you expect yellow."

Two quilts in the collection that demonstrate recognizable patterns are the Postage Stamp quilt and Seven Sisters quilt.

The collection of 24 quilts dates from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, made by homemakers, mothers and wives of farmers, living in rural communities of Victoria (near Mart) and Prairie Hill.

The annual show will be March 7-8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the Lampasas County Courthouse, Lampasas County Office Building and the museum. Admission is $5 for adults, and $3 for children under 12.

The event is the key fund-raiser for the museum.

For information, phone the museum at 556-2224 and leave a message or send an e-mail to naq07@pgrb.com.

Joyce Lucas is this year's show chairman.