Holly Knott

76 x 96

The Inner City pattern is made up of half-hexagon shapes. Six of these half-hexagons are joined into an interlocking “Y” pattern. The careful selection and placement of colors and values creates a design that is suggestive of buildings. By keeping the lightest value on the top, the medium value on the right, and the darkest value on the left of each “Y” a three-dimensional effect is achieved. This illusion of depth reminds one of buildings clustered tightly together, common in the inner city.

The hundreds of different fabrics were gathered over several years from purchases and as gifts shared by many quilters. The colors are clustered into purples, reds, blues, greens, and black, and they melt into one another as they move across the face of the quilt, symbolizing “neighborhoods” which touch and interact to make up the whole. The lightest yellows and white create a light source that seems to be shining in to wake up the sleeping city.

The hand-quilting design begins with an expanding spiral from the brightest area and changes to other geometric patterns as the colors change. A clamshell design fills the darkest area including the black outer border.

The quilt won a blue ribbon in Pine Belt Quilters’ show and Gulf States Quilting Association show, was juried into AQS in Paducah and IQA in Houston in 1997. It is pictured in Joen Wolfrom’s Color Play, Lucy Fazely’s Quilt Style, and Maggie McCormick Gordon’s The Quilter’s Resource.

In 2013 the quilt was part of 25 Quiltmakers in 21st Century America, an exhibit to six venues in China sponsored by the US Embassy (Beijing) and Arts Midwest (Minneapolis) and SouthArts (Atlanta). Rise and Shine, Inner City was selected for the catalog cover, and Martha traveled and spoke in Beijing and Dalian.

77 x 93

This counted cross-stitch quilt was the transition from avid counted cross-stitcher to avid quilter. In the 1980s daughter Linda Ginn and I discovered a pattern book by Dale Burdett featuring traditional quilt blocks. As we began to stitch the blocks (using six strands of floss over two squares on 14-ct Aida cloth), I realized to do the beautiful work justice would require a trained quilter. So I began to learn all I could about quilting, leaving her to finish the squares. The quilt won blue ribbons in quilt shows in the early 1990s.

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84 x 104

After making several traditional album blocks from patterns by Elly Sienkievicz, Nancy Pearson, and Pat Andreatta, I began designing my own blocks to commemorate important events in my life:

–My church and a favorite scripture (“And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”  Micah 6:8) for my religious heritage

–Texas state seal for my native state

–Great Seal to acknowledge my love for my country

–Ship block representing the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage

–Magnolia logo to commemorate the formation and my presidency of the Mississippi Quilt Association

–Double Happiness symbol to celebrate the love for special Chinese friends

–Cotton Boll for my beloved adopted state of Mississippi

Some of the blocks patterned after antique quilts took on special meaning as they reminded me of my father’s love of roses, my mother’s love of teapots and flowers, my daughter’s love of birds and singing, my son’s precious family, and the heart blocks for the love of a dedicated husband.

The quilt won viewers’ choice in Hattiesburg’s Pine Belt Quilters show, first place and viewers’ choice in Gulf States Quilting Association’s New Orleans show, and was juried into AQS in Paducah and IQA in Houston in 1995, and C&T’s Baltimore Album Revival Quilt contest in 1998. It is pictured in Lucy Fazely’s book, Quilt Style, and Mary Elizabeth Johnson’s Mississippi Quilts.

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Detail – Original design, Great Seal to acknowledge my love for my country

Detail   Original design, Double Happiness symbol to celebrate the love for special Chinese friends

Detail Elly Sienkievicz design