The Fat Lady Still Sings

****Update****  My grandmother passed away, Saturday, March 26, 2011.  Thank you for your prayers.*****

My Grannie is a celebrity!  She has been featured on Tennessee CrossRoads, Quilter's Newletter magazine, and several newspaper articles and now......in the Tennessee Arts Commission book, Traditions.

 The pictures from this book are going to be on display at various locations throughout Tennessee for the next 2 years.  This month they are at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, TN, which is very close to our neck of the woods.

Dean Dixon took some wonderful pictures of artists in Tennessee.  It was a joy to watch him with Grannie during her photo shot last year.  I wish I could remember the lady's name that was interviewing her at the time.  They had her laughing and us too as Dean was trying to get a picture of Grannie sewing and trying to understand the concept of a thimble.

Here's a clip from one of the descriptions at the original showing of her quilts for this book:

Mildred Carathers was born in 1913 to a farming family in Taylor County, Texas; but both sets of grandparents were from Tennessee.  Her maternal grandmother, Mary Jane Reeves Forrester, came from Hickman County, while her paternal grandmother, Rebecca Allison McPeak, was from Wilson County.  Both were avid quilters.  True to her artistic roots, Mildred showed an early aptitude for quilting, learning piecework from her mother, Daisy Forrester McPeak, and quilting skills from the local Munsey Needle Club.  Relocating to Nashville in 1941, Mildred has hand pieced many of the estimated 1,000 quilts she has made over her life time.  Her children Eugene Carathers and Frances Lewis (who also quilts) brought the family full circle by moving back to Hickman County. 

 Grannie will turn 98 in May....however, she is not doing too well right now.  Losing her little girl in January has taken its toll on her.  She told me last week that she won't be with me much longer either.

If you could, say a prayer for this quilter that her final days will be peaceful and she will find comfort.

(Oh, if you are wondering about the title of this post.....Grannie always said that the "quilt" show wasn't over yet because the fat lady was still singing.)