1976. Designed and created by Marlene Brown Woodfield.

With her daughter’s high school graduation approaching, Marlene asked Deb what she wanted for a graduation gift. Deb quickly replied, “A quilt.” Marlene replied, “A quilt?!!” She had never made a quilt before, so this was quite surprising. However, in typical Marlene fashion, she got to work. This is how she tells the story:

“It was 1976, the country’s bicentennial year. Magazines of that time featured crafts with a patriotic theme and designs of old quilts, including patchwork quilts. That never excited me, but fabrics did! In 4-H, I enjoyed making different things out of fabric and going to different stores to find unique fabrics. The idea occurred to me, “hey, I’ll make a map.” I had taken classes in college on drawing, so I knew that I could design a quilt like a map. I drove to Valpo and took pictures of various buildings around campus. Then, I went to get fabric – a variety of different blues – and pieced them together using a sewing machine. It was fairly decent (although not compared to my later works). I was pleased, and it was something that I did to show my love for my daughter. After that, I was hooked!

I began to take classes, and I was thrilled with the fact that I could design something and make it look realistic. I was also satisfied that I could learn and improve over time.”