Christmas Poinsettias

Block Number: 125











“CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS” QUILT BLOCK IN MONTFORD COVE
On Saturday afternoon, December 22, 2012, a large family Christmas gathering took place at the home of Arvle and Marie Nations in the Montford Cove community of McDowell County. The four children of the Nations, James Nations, Arvle Jr. Nations, Benny Nations and Shirley Pollard, as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren totaled twenty-eight and honored Arvle and Mary with the gift of a McDowell Quilt Trail Block.

James Nations, President of the Farm Bureau, is a supporter of the Quilt Trail and host of a block himself and, after discussions with siblings, his sister Shirley made the initial call to begin the process of developing a special block for their parents. One of the quilts their mother had made was “Christmas Poinsettias and this seemed an appropriate design and title for the special Christmas gift to their parents.

As a child Marie grew up helping her mother with quilting projects and inherited a love of the craft. Later, as an employee of Van Ross Glove Plant in Bryson City, she saw a chance to recycle and make use of all the scraps and trimmings that were going into the waste bins of the plant. She began collecting the various sized pieces and colors to seriously begin her quilting hobby and has made as many as 21 in one year, every grandchild having one of their own. Throughout the 65 years she and Arvle have been married she has hand pieced quilt patterns such as traditional Bow Tie and Dutch Girl as well as many, many other designs.

Arvle Nations retired from the Church of God Ministry in 1991 where he had ministered throughout the area and Marie continues her quilting as well as remaining an active gardener. The home has a room full of shelves with a magnificent selection of home-canned goods that come in handy for her cooking up wonderful meals when family visits. Quilt Trail attendees can attest as to her delicious candy-making ability also, as she graciously gave each of us a bin of chocolate- covered peanut-butter and coconut bon-bons to take home.

Block #125 on the McDowell Quilt Trail, Christmas Poinsettias, may easily be viewed on the Nations’ home at 366 Wilkerson Way, just across from the Montford Cove Community Building. The 4’ X 4’ block is patterned after the quilt Marie made and the entire family squeezed in to pose for a photograph of both the original quilt and newly installed block. The block is set on the diagonal, with alternating squares of red and dark red forming the background with four white poinsettias around the central square of the block, closely resembling the very quilt Marie made. This colorful block adds yet another reason to take a leisurely drive through our picturesque country roads to see!

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