Quilt brought out for Memorial Day

Published 10:34 pm Friday, May 25, 2012

A priceless treasure from almost 30 years ago is admired again.

Annie Ridley, a RossWoods participant, has many talents and two of them are embroidering and crocheting. Her fingers are seldom still as she creates beautiful bonnets and crochet squares at RossWoods. Annie’s daughter, Linda Vineyard, decided that this Memorial Day holiday was a perfect time to unpack a very special and unique quilt and bring it to RossWoods for all the participants to enjoy. She told the staff that there is a very touching story that goes with this American quilt.

On March 16, 1984 The Daily Citizen-News ran a story titled the “Quilt with Faces of 40 Presidents” featuring Annie and her granddaughter, Elaine Vineyard. It took the two of them three months to complete the project. Sometimes Elaine worked on it before she went to school and sometimes the two of them spent weekends together to make sure their generational project was completed. Each president’s face is embroidered in black thread along with each president’s signature. The bottom two corners display the American flag and the Presidential Seal.

The actual idea for the quilt came from the newspaper which printed the pattern and suggested it would be a rewarding project. Little did Caran Wilbanks, staff writer for The Daily Citizen-News in 1984, dream that almost 30 years later her article and the treasured quilt would be shared with all the participants and staff at RossWoods. Many years have passed since that time, but the family will always have the quilt as a treasured keepsake made by a grandmother and her granddaughter.