California Star Quilt and Bettye holding book that featured it on the cover
When Bettye needed “R&R” during or after making a highly complicated quilt she would turn to a simpler design such as the “Feathered Star” or “California Star.” She called this one her “cancer recovery” quilt because she worked on it while dealing with uterine cancer. It ended up on the cover of Star Quilts, by Mary Elizabeth Johnson Huff. (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Martin)
82” W X94”L ( 1979)
Double Wedding Ring quilt and detail
Bettye made this traditional patchwork quilt from scraps left from clothes she had made for her three daughters. The youngest, Cindy, says “I can just look at that quilt
and remember an Easter dress I hated and a pair of plaid bell bottom pants I wore in the 5th or 6th grade that I loved! ” It was the first quilt she entered in a competition, the 1970 Alabama State Fair. She won a blue ribbon. (Photo courtesy of Jimmy Martin).
70” W X 75”L (1970)
Bicentennial Quilt
Bettye created this this quilt in 1975 for a competition sponsored by the National Grange to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the United States. It has a patchwork design made up of twelve blocks that look like Betsy Ross’s 1776 flag with its red and white stripes and thirteen blue stars alternating with white squares filled with hand-stitched outlines of eagles and stars. (Photo courtesy of Alan Govenar)
81” W X96” L (1975)
Our Constitution
In 1987 Bettye and her three daughters, Kathy, Nina, and Cindy, designed this quilt for a competition sponsored by the Southern Highlands Craft Guild celebrating the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution. The woman in the center is working on a quilt of 20 squares, the type that Bettye’s grandmother, Julia Whitson, made. Each square has an 8-point star in the center. A threaded needle is left in the hoop to show that the quilt is not finished. The quilting is done in a traditional shell pattern, also echoing her grandmother’s work. (Photo courtesy of Alan Govenar)
71” W X71”L (1987)