NWA Democrat-Gazette/BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
Jan Murray Brown shows off a new quilt she calls “Center of the Universe,” based on the “Trip Around the World” pattern. “There is a single bee in the center block,” she explains, “a tribute to those beautiful little creatures who give us so much life. Quilting can also help people think and make a statement.”
“Each morning, I jump out of bed and say to myself, ‘What shall I make today?’” Jan Murray Brown says, grinning from ear to ear. “And then I’m out my door and walking through downtown Springdale, on the Razorback Greenway, past the Shiloh Museum and along Spring Creek, seeing the light, hearing the sound as I go.
“That is a great beginning of a day for a quiltmaker!”
On Sept. 9, Brown will bring that morning enthusiasm to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History for the 40th Ozark Quilt Fair. She’ll be exhibiting a variety of large and small quilts with old and new techniques of design, myriad bright colors and her hand and machine quilting. What they have in common is Brown’s sense of making do, learned at her mother’s knee in Wichita, Kan.
Quilting is a relatively new pastime for Brown.
“My chosen career was in elementary education,” she explains. “I moved from Kansas to Arkansas in 1980, lived and worked in Eureka Springs. We moved to Springdale in 2004 to [help] open Bayyari Elementary, where I served as school counselor for over 700 beautiful kids and their families until I retired in 2011.
“When I retired, I found quilting again and started making quilts like crazy,” she goes on. “Now my days are filled with colors and scraps and rulers and perspectives and choices. I am not limited by design or time or deadlines or technique.”
And, she adds, this is a great time to be a quilter.
“Blogs and online classes and fabrics for $12 a yard and patterns and every conceivable sewing machine, quilting machine, batting, technique, you name it! But scraps are where quilting was born. I love scrappy!”
— Becca Martin-Brown
bmartin@nwadg.com
FAQ
Ozark Quilt Fair
WHEN — 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 9
WHERE — Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale
NWA Democrat-Gazette/BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
Brown shows off a small quilt. She prefers to make smaller pieces that can be used in a variety of ways. “Not only is quilting fun and creative, I like to think it gives something back … some warmth and comfort and beauty in a world that is lacking in all of these.”
COST — Admission is free
INFO — 750-8165
BONUS — Cash prize Viewer’s Choice awards will be given for first ($50), second ($35), and third ($15) place winners in both new and antique quilt categories. Other activities during the fair include musical entertainment by Greenland Station and a special exhibit of small quilts by the Dogwood Quilters Guild.
